† ˈcrack-rope Obs.
[f. crack v. + rope.]
1. = crack-halter; also = rogue, vituperatively, and playfully.
| c 1450 Henryson Tod's Confessioun 48 (Jam.) Syne widdie⁓nek and crak-raip callit als, And till our hyre hangit up be the hals. 1571 Edwards Damon & P. in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 68 Away, you crack-ropes, are you fighting at the court⁓gate? 1611 Cotgr., Baboin, a crackrope, waghalter, unhappie rogue, retchless villaine. 1620 Shelton Don Quix. III. iii. 19 ‘Sancho, you are a Crack-rope’, quoth Don Quixote, ‘ifaith you want no Memory’. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. vii, About a score of fusty Crackropes and Gallowclappers. |
2. attrib. or adj.
| 1611 Tarlton's Jests (1844) 19 There was a crack-rope boy, meeting Tarlton in London street. 1631 Shirley Love in Maze iv. iii, You do not know the mystery: this lady is a boy, a very crack-rope boy. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxx, Ye crack-rope padder, born beggar, and bred thief. |