▪ I. crop, n.
(krɒp)
Forms: 1– crop; also 1–6 cropp, 3–7 croppe, 4–7 crope, (5 crowpe, croupe, in sense 1), 7–9 Sc. and dial. crap.
[OE. crop(p = OLG. *crop(p, MDu. crop(p, MLG., LG. and Du. krop, OHG. chropf, MHG., Ger. kropf, ‘swelling in the neck, wen, craw of a bird’, in ON. kroppr hump or bunch on the body, Sw. kropp the body, Da. krop swelling under the throat. These various applications indicate a primitive sense of ‘swollen protuberance or excrescence, bunch’. The word has passed from German into Romanic as F. croupe, and It. groppo, F. groupe: see croup, group. OE. had only sense 1, ‘craw of a bird’, and 3, ‘rounded head or top of a herb’; the latter is found also in High German dialects (Grimm, Kropf 4 c); the further developments of ‘head or top’ generally, and of ‘produce of the field, etc.’, appear to be exclusively English. The senses under IV are new formations from the verb, and might be treated as a distinct word.]
I. A round protuberance or swelling, the craw.
1. a. A pouch-like enlargement of the œsophagus or gullet in many birds, in which the food undergoes a partial preparation for digestion before passing on to the true stomach; the craw.
| c 1000 ælfric Lev. i. 16 Wurp þone cropp & þa federa wiðæftan þæt weofod. 1398 Trevisa Barth de P.R. v. xliv. (1495) 161 The mete of fowles is kepte in the croppe as it were in a propre spence. 14.. Wyclif (MS.S.) Lev. i. 16 The litil bladdir of the throte or the cropp. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 101/1 Crawe, or crowpe of a byrde. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C vij b, Hawkys that haue payne in theyr croupes. 1555 Eden Decades 16 He commaunded the croppe to bee opened of suche as were newely kylled. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 740 They have a crap on the belly from the chin to the breast, like the crap of a Bird. 1780 Cowper Nightingale & Glowworm 12 Stooping down..He thought to put him in his crop. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 52 The oesophagus..often expands into a crop. |
b. An analogous organ in other animals.
| 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 535/1 In the Nautilus it [the gullet] is dilated into a pyriform crop. 1881 Darwin Earthworms i. 17 In most of the species, the œsophagus is enlarged into a crop in front of the gizzard. |
† c. The dewlap of an ox; a wen in the neck.
| 1591 Horsey Trav. (Hakluyt Soc.) 220 A goodly fare white bull..his crop or gorg hanging down to his knees before him. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 89/2 When anye man hath a croppe growinge on him..applye it on the Croppe, and it helpeth. |
2. transf. and
fig. The stomach or maw; also the throat. Now
Sc. and
dial. Cf. gizzard.
| c 1325 Pol. Songs (Camden) 238 The knave crommeth is crop Er the cok crawe. a 1400 Cov. Myst. xxiii. (Shaks. Soc.) 217 I xal this daggare putt in his croppe. a 1575 Wife lapped 88 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 184 Which sore would sticke then in thy crop. 1737 Ramsay Sc. Prov. (1776) 31 (Jam.) He has a crap for a' corn. 1808–25 Jamieson s.v., That'll craw in your crap, that will be recollected to your discredit, it will be matter of reproach to you. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss., Crop, applied to the throat, or locality of the windpipe. One who manifests hoarseness is alluded to as having a ‘reasty crop’. |
II. The (rounded) head; the top part.
† 3. a. The ‘head’ of a herb, flower, etc.,
esp. as gathered for culinary or medicinal purposes; a cyme; an ear of corn, a young sprout, etc.
Obs.| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 60 Acitelum, hramsa crop. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke vi. 1 Ðegnas his ða croppas eton. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 135, Tursus, cimia, crop. Ibid. 149 Cima, crop. c 1350 in Archæol. XXX. 356 Take sanycle and y⊇ crop of y⊇ brembelys..Y⊇ crop of y⊇ reednettyle. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. p. xlii, Mure cokis and hennis, quhilk etis nocht bot seid, or croppis of hadder. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 97 When the Nettle is young..they vse to eat the crops therof for a pleasant kind of meat. 1686 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Chym. (ed. 3) 572 Take two pounds of Rosemary Flowers, the Leaves of Rosemary, the crops of Thyme, Savory, Lavender, etc. 1785 Burns Earnest Cry xxxi, Whare ye sit, on craps o' heather. |
b. Arch. A bunch of foliage terminating a pinnacle, etc.; a finial.
| 1478 Botoner Itin. (Nasmith 1778) 282 A le gargayle usque le crope qui finit le stone-work. 1846 Ecclesiologist V. 214 The ‘crop’ is a bunch of foliage surmounting a crocketed canopy, and resulting from the concurrence of the two topmost crockets. 1848 B. Webb Cont. Eccles. 60 With crockets and a crop above a two-light window. |
† 4. The ‘head’ or top of a tree. Sometimes (with
pl.), A topmost branch.
Obs.| a 1300 Signs bef. Judgem. in E.E.P. (1862) 10 Þe sefþe dai hit [the tree] sal grow aȝe har crop adun har rote an hei. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 81 In Inde a crop of a figge tree is so huge..þat meny companyes of men may sitte at þe mete wel i-now þere vnder. 1399 Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 365 Hewe hit downe crop and rote. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxv. 186 (Add. MS.) He sawe the Ape..in the croppe of a tree. 1549 Compl. Scot. xiv. 121 Tha band his tua armis vitht cordis to the crops of ane of the treis. 1558 T. Phaer æneid. vi. P iv b, So from the tree the golden braunche did shewe..æneas..caught a crop with much ado. |
5. fig.,
esp. in
phr. crop and root, implying the completeness or thoroughness of anything:
cf. ‘root and branch’. Now
Sc.| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xxxvi. 100 Fals y wes in crop ant rote. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 25 She that was sothfaste crop and moore Of al his lust or ioyes here-to-fore. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxiii. 53 Antecrist cam þenne and al þe crop of treuthe Turned tyte vp-so-doun. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 96 Haylle, David sede! Of oure crede thou art crop. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. x. 116 Baith crop, and ruyte, and heyd of sik myscheif. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1792) I. 100 (Jam.) To..sweep off the bishops of both kingdoms crop and root. 1768 Ross Helenore 30 (Jam.), I tauld you crap and root, Fan I came here. |
6. gen. The top of anything material.
Sc.| 1513 Douglas æneis i. iii. 91 Our slidand lychtlie the croppis of the wallis [= waves]. 1808–25 Jamieson s.v. Crap, The crap of the earth, the surface of the ground..The crap of the wa', the highest part of it in the inner side of a house. The cones of firs are called fir-craps. 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xviii. 270 A grip that would spin the bluid out ot the craps o' a child's fingers. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer I. 271 She proceeded..to search for them in the crap o' the wa', that is, on the top of the wall where the rafters rest. |
7. spec. a. ‘The top or uppermost section of a fishing-rod’ (Jamieson). Now
Sc.| a 1450 Fysshynge wyth an Angle (1883) 8 Set your crop an honful withyn þe ovir ende of ȝowr stafe. Than arme ȝowr crop at þe ovir ende..with a lyn of vi herys. 1496 Bk. St. Albans H v, But kepe hym ever under the rodde..soo that your lyne may susteyne and beere his lepys and his plungys with the helpe of your cropp and of your honde. 1808–25 Jamieson s.v., The crap of a fishing-wand. |
b. The upper part of a whip; hence the whole stock or handle of a whip.
| 1562 W. Bullein Def. agst. Sickness, Sicke Men (1579) 8 b, A long whipstocke with croppe and laniarde. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Crop..the Handle of a Coach-man's Whip. 1781 P. Beckford Hunting (1802) 42 The whips I use are coach-whips, three feet long, the thong half the length of the crop. 1846 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs, ‘Tantivy Trot’, Here's to the music in three feet of tin, Here's to the tapering crop, Sir. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 33 He admonished the wheeler with the ‘crop’ of his whip. |
c. esp. A short straight whipstock with a handle and a short leather loop in place of the lash, used in the hunting field; more fully
hunting-crop.
| 1857 G. A. Lawrence Guy Livingstone iv. 30 Hunting⁓crops and heavy cutting-whips. 1887 Sir R. H. Roberts In the Shires i. 13 His crop had fallen out of his hands. |
III. The produce of the field, etc. [from 3].
8. a. The annual produce of plants cultivated or preserved for food,
esp. that of the cereals; the produce of the land, either while growing or when gathered; harvest.
| [c 1213 in Madox Form. Anglic. ccxxii, Donec inde duos croppos perceperint.] a 1300 Cursor M. 3103 (Cott.) O corn, o crop, aght and catell [Trin. Of crop of corn & oþere catel] To godd his tend þar gafe he lele. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 8280 Þare he gaue all stayndrope With purtenance, wode and croppe. 1546 Supplic. of Poore Commons 71 No man myght..gleane his grounde after he had gathered of his croppe. 1596 Bp. W. Barlow Three Serm. i. 28 Bewitch not by any Charme any other man's Crop. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 121 The Husbandman looks not for a crop in the wild desart. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 109 He was not even entitled to reap the crop, as other tenants at will were. |
b. in, under, out of crop:
i.e. the condition of bearing crops; tillage, cultivation.
| 1791 Statist. Acc. Dumfr. I. 181 (Jam. s.v. Croft-land) A few acres of what is called croft-land, which was never out of crop. 1806 Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 58 The surface is in general level, and about three-fourths are under crop. 1892 Times (Weekly Ed.) 16 Dec. 8/1 Including 75,833 acres in crop and grass. |
9. a. With qualification or contextual specification: The yield or produce of some particular cereal or other plant in a single season or in a particular locality.
the crops: the whole of the plants which engage the agricultural industry of a particular district or season.
black crop: a crop of beans or peas, as opposed to one of corn.
green crop: a crop cut in its green state for fodder; also, a crop which does not turn white in ripening, as roots, potatoes, etc.
white crop: a crop which whitens in ripening; a corn or grain crop.
| [1322 Literæ Cantuar. (Rolls) I. 82 Cum cropa frumenti..cropa vescarum..et cropa avenarum.] c 1440 Promp. Parv. 104 Croppe of corne yn a yere (ȝere K.), annona. 1530 Palsgr. 211/1 Croppe of corne, leuee de terre. 1611 Coryat Crudities 124 They turned in their stubble to sow another croppe of wheate in the same place. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 8 No crops are yet got in. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 156 The common course of crops through this district may be stated—as, wheat, barley, oats, clover with hievre, first year mown. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) II. 182 The ground..is only sown with a white crop one year, and the next with a green one to cut for fresh fodder, as lucerne, sanfoin, trefoil or clover. 1849 Helps Friends in C. II. 91 Many a long talk about the crops and the weather. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xxxvi, You'll lose your bet on the cotton-crop. |
b. The annual or season's yield of any natural product.
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Crop, annual produce, as well animal as vegetable. We talk of crops of lambs, turkeys, geese, etc. 1879 Lumberman's Gaz. 15 Oct., Cutting their next season's crop of logs. 1884 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Feb. 188/1 The total annual ice-crop of the States is twenty million tons. |
10. The entire skin or hide of an animal tanned. Also short for
crop-hide,
crop-leather: see 22. (
Cf. englische kröpfe and
kropfen in Grimm 2395, 2400.)
| 1457 Bury Wills (Camden) 13 Togam meam penulatam cum croppes de grey [? badger skins]. 1486 Will of Marsh (Somerset Ho.), Togam..furratam cum croppys. 1856 R. Gardiner Handbk. Foot 50 The soles should be of the best English crop or dintle. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Crop..in the leather trade, the commercial name for an entire hide. |
11. transf. and
fig. That which grows out of or is produced by any action; the ‘fruit’; a supply produced or appearing.
| c 1575 Fulke Confut. Doct. Purg. (1577) 424 The latter end of this chapter hath one croppe of his olde custome. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Malin v, Insteade of rule hee reapes the crop of thrall. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 47 When..I..hop'd to reape the crop of all my care. 1680 Otway Hist. Caius Marius Prol., From the Crop of his luxuriant Pen. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 135 This morning there is a plentiful crop [of pustules] on every part of her body. 1830 Cunningham Brit. Paint. I. 322 The annual academical crop of beardless youths. 1862 Goulburn Pers. Relig. iv. x. (1873) 335 [This] has given rise to a crop of petty discussions. |
12. Tin-mining. The best quality of tin-ore obtained after dressing; more fully
crop-ore,
crop-tin.
| 1778 W. Price Min. Cornub. 218 The crop and leavings of Tin. The first is the prime Tin. Ibid. 319 The finest black Tin is called the Crop. 1884 Erichsen Surgery (1888) 348 Two pits are formed; in the one nearest the mill the purer and heavier part of the ore, or crop, is deposited. |
IV. [
f. crop v.] The act of cropping or its result.
13. The cropping or cutting of the hair short; a style of wearing the hair cut conspicuously short; a closely cropped head of hair.
| 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Hair Powder Wks. 1812 III. 289 His Curling-irons breaks and snaps his Combs..For dead is Custom 'mid the world of crops. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. ii, She wore it [her hair] in a crop, a loosely flowing crop. 1853 County crop [see county1 8 b]. 1856 J. W. Cole Mem. Brit. Gen. Penins. War I. i. 38 Giving up the time-honoured powder and queue, and wearing a crop. 1878 Punch I. 21 Newgate crop. |
14. A mark made by cropping the ears of animals; an ear-mark.
| 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 1007/4, 39 fat sheep..cropped in both ears; but the farther ear is a hollow crop. 1887 Scribn. Mag. II. 508/2 Crop, an ear-mark. |
† 15. A crop-eared animal; a person who wears his hair cropped. (In
quot. 1811
= croppy2).
| 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2422/4 And also a sorrel Crop. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Crop, one with very short Hair; also a Horse whose Ears are cut. Ibid., Prickear'd Fellow, a Crop, whose Ears are longer than his Hair. 1811 E. Lysaght Poems 97 ‘That's true’ says the Sheriff, ‘for plenty of crops Already I've seen on the pavement.’ |
16. a. A piece cropped or cut off from the end.
| 1874 J. A. Phillips Elem. Metal. (1887) 367 The rails are sawn to the proper length, giving a short piece or crop from either end. 1890 Nature 2 Oct. 555 Steel rails occasionally fail at the ends owing to insufficient ‘crop’ being cut off the rolled rail. |
b. Applied to certain cuts of meat.
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Crop..a joint of pork, commonly called the spare-rib. 1868 C. J. Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Crop, a joint cut from the ribs of an Ox, and with the bones shortened. 1880 Webster Supp., Crop, the region above the shoulder in the ox. |
17. The noise made by an animal in cropping grass, etc. (
Cf. crump.)
| 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. iv. 29 The ‘crop, crop’ of our horses shortening the crisp grass. |
18. Min. and
Geol. † a. The cropping up or out of a stratum, vein, etc.
Obs. b. An outcrop.
| 1679 [see crop v. 10]. 1719 Strachey in Phil. Trans. XXX. 968 For Discovery of Coal, they first search for the Crop, which..sometimes appears to the Day, as they term it. 1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Min. Kingd. (1810) I. 116, I have traced the crops or outward extremities of these coals. 1879 Dixon Windsor I. ii. 11 A crop of rock, starting from a crest of rock. |
19. (See
quot.)
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Crop..a fixed weight in different localities for sugar, tobacco, and other staples..the usual recognized weight of a crop-hogshead of tobacco is from 1000 to 1300 lbs. nett. |
20. neck and crop: see
neck.
V. attrib. and
Comb. † 21. attrib. Having the ears, hair, etc. cropped.
| 1663 Pepys Diary 1 May, Galloping upon a little crop black nag. 1785 S. Fielding Ophelia II. i, I had rather have..my crop horse. 1825 Lockhart Let. 24 Aug. in Life Scott, They have crop heads, shaggy, rough, bushy. |
22. Comb., as (sense 1)
crop-like,
crop-shaped adjs.; (senses 8–9)
crop-farming,
crop-land;
crop-producing adj.: parasynthetic, as
crop-headed,
crop-haired,
crop-nosed,
crop-tailed;
crop-bound a., (of birds) unable to pass food through the crop;
† crop-doublet, a short doublet;
crop-duster, an aircraft used for sprinkling insecticide, fertilizer, etc., on crops; a person who flies such a aircraft;
crop-dusting (see
dusting vbl. n. 1 b);
crop-end, a piece of metal cut off a bar of rolled iron or steel to remove imperfections and to reduce the bar to standard length;
crop-head, a crop-end cut from that end of a bar of iron or steel which is at the top during the process of cooling and where most of the imperfections occur;
crop-hide, a hide,
esp. a cow- or ox-hide, tanned whole and untrimmed;
crop-leather (see
quot.);
crop-mark Archæol. (see
quot. 1956); also
attrib.; so
crop-marking;
crop movement (see
movement n. 8);
crop-ore (see 12);
crop-over, in the West Indies, the end of the sugar-cane harvest on a plantation, and the accompanying celebrations;
crop-plant, a plant cultivated for food;
† crop-side, the outcrop of a stratum on a slope;
crop-sole, sole leather obtained from crop-hides;
crop-spraying, the spraying of crops with insecticide or the like; also
attrib. or ppl. a.;
crop-tin (see 12);
crop-wall (
Sc.), the crop of the wall (
cf. 6);
† crop-weed, the knapweed,
Centaurea nigra;
crop-wood (
dial.), the branches lopped off a felled tree. Also
crop-ear, -eared, -sick.
| 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 136 ‘*Crop-bound’ fowls. 1897 Daily News 29 Dec. 7/2 The bird..had become crop-bound, and in order to remove the obstruction an incision five inches long was made in the crop. |
| 1640 Shirley Const. Maid i. i. (D.), Hospitality went out of fashion with *crop-doublets and cod-pieces. |
| 1939 Collier's 24 June 17/1 These are the *crop dusters. 1966 Punch 8 June 832/3 The first cropduster to be produced in partnership, this nippy little machine can carry..liquid DDT. |
| 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 332/1 Cuttings, ‘*crop ends’, and ‘scrap’ of various kinds, often not very largely inferior in value to the bar iron. 1884 W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xvi. 347 Cutting off the rough or crop-ends of puddled, finished, or other bars. |
| 1887 Contemp. Rev. May 701 Southern Minnesota has outlived the wheat growing and *crop-farming period. |
| 1879 F. W. Robinson Coward Consc. ii. xxi, He glanced..at a *crop-haired individual. |
| 1903 Sci. Amer. Suppl. 21 Feb. 22687 The rough ends—‘*crop heads’—are cut off and are placed by an electric crane in a car for shipment to any part of the works. |
| 1842 Browning Cavalier Tunes ii, Bidding the *crop-headed Parliament swing. |
| 1794 Hull Advertiser 20 Sept. 4/1 Leather..*Crop Hides for Cutting. 1802 Hull Packet 28 Sept. 2/2 A good assortment of horse, calf, and crop hides. |
| 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 211 Thousands of acres of *crop-land are sometimes laid under water. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Crop-leather, Crops, leather made from thin cow hides, used chiefly for pumps and light walking-shoes. |
| 1935 Proc. Prehist. Soc. I. 157 The two fields showing *crop marks. 1947 J. & C. Hawkes Prehist. Britain vii. 161 Two of the most spectacular discoveries made by this crop mark method are the Bronze Age temple of Arminghall and the Roman town of Caistor-by-Norwich where every building was clearly planned in pale lines in the corn. 1956 J. K. S. St. Joseph in R. L. S. Bruce-Mitford Recent Archaeol. Excavations in Brit. 275 In spring and early summer, differences in colour, density or luxuriance of growth commonly develop in response to hidden differences in the soil. These ‘crop-marks’, as they are termed, reveal to an observer, often in the finest detail, buried remains of which no trace can be seen on the surface. |
| 1937 Oxoniensia II. 13 Under corn or grass however it becomes covered with very distinct *crop-markings, as can be seen from the air-photographs. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 14 June 12/1 The *crop movement began very early last year, and the farmers were paid for their wheat and other products promptly. |
| 1894 G. Robson Missions United Presb. Ch. 35 The grinding routine of slavery was relieved at ‘*crop-over’ and Christmas-time by boisterous revels. |
| 1906 Westm. Gaz. 2 June 11/2 Burrowing into the roots of grasses, *crop-plants, and trees. 1958 Listener 28 Aug. 301/2 The herd-animals and crop-plants which were destined to form the main basis of modern food-production. |
| 1839 Todd Cycl. II. 970/2 The œsophagus..expanded into a large *crop-shaped bag. |
| 1717 E. Barlow Surv. Tide (1722) 11 The Water..descending from the *Crop-side is lodg'd therein. |
| 1824 Mechanic's Mag. No. 43. 238 The best method of finishing or striking *cropsole leather. 1881 Chicago Times 11 June, The largest advance in leather has been in crop sole. |
| 1956 Farm Implement & Machinery Rev. 1 Apr. 2146/1 *Crop spraying is carried out to remove the injurious influences which adversely affect yields. 1959 Daily Tel. 15 Oct. 20/5 Three crop-spraying helicopters. 1970 East African Standard 23 Jan. 12/6 ‘What's crop-spraying?’ asked his mother. ‘Well, you fly low over cultivated fields and spray the crops with weed-killer solution from the aircraft,’ explained Bill. |
| 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2427/4 One black brinded Bull-Bitch, crop Ear'd, *crop Tailed, black Mouth'd. 1884 Times (Weekly ed.) 29 Aug. 14/2 The..crop-tailed little Kerry nag. |
| 1892 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 481 The timbers..went down open to the *Crap-wa' or angle at the eaves. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal App. to Table, *Crop weed is Iacea nigra. |
| 1884 Holland Cheshire Gloss., Crop, or *Crop-wood, the branches of a felled tree. |
Add:
[V.] [22.] crop circle, a circular area in a field of standing crops (
esp. wheat or other cereal), in which the stalks have been flattened,
usu. in concentric rings; also called a
corn circle (see *
corn n.1 11).
| 1988 Jrnl. Meteorol. XIII. 290 (heading) The mystery of the *crop-circles: a B.B.C. film. 1989 New Scientist 2 Sept. 30 (heading) Ionised whirlwinds could create crop circles. 1992 Science News 1 Feb. 76/1 The study of these mysterious crop circles has itself grown into a thriving cottage industry. 1993 Guardian 30 July i. 20/3 A glorious chapter in the annals of British summertime lunacy appears to be drawing to a close. Only 45 crop circles have been found this year, compared with more than 400 in each of the last two years. |
▪ II. crop, a. Brit. /
krɒp/,
U.S. /
krɑp/
[Either <crop v. or shortened <cropped adj.] = cropped adj. Esp. in
crop top.
| 1957 Newark (Ohio) Advocate & Amer. Tribune 28 Feb. 32/1 (advt.) Look for softer box jackets..and short crop jackets. 1971 News Jrnl. (Mansfield, Ohio) 29 Apr. 33/1 (caption) Crocheted crop-top is a great look for today. 1982 Washington Post 20 May c5/1 Baggy sweat pants and shapeless tops have turned into minis, crop pants,..harem pants and shorts. 1990 California Apr. 74 A sequined crop top makes a sparkling swimsuit cover-up. 1995 Kay's Catal. Autumn–Winter 4/1 Latest mohair mix crop sweater with front cable design. 2001 B. Hatch Internat. Gooseberry 226 She had..a tattoo on her belly, which you could see under her crop-top. |
▪ III. crop, v. (
krɒp)
Forms: 3–6
croppe, (6
cropp), 6–9
dial. crap, 7
crope, 4–
crop.
[f. crop n.] 1. trans. To cut off or remove the ‘crop’ or head of (a plant, tree, etc.); to poll, to lop off the branches of (a tree).
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 86 Ase þe wiði þet sprutteð ut þe betere þet me hine ofte croppeð. 1399 Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 363 Crop hit welle, and hold hit lowe, or elles hit wolle be wilde. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. v. 92 So cropped for to sprynge he wol not ceese. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §132 Yf a tree be heded and vsed to be lopped and cropped at euery .xii. or .xvi. yeres ende. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 85/2 A Tree is..cropped, when all its Boughs are cut off. 1881 Oxfordshire Gloss. Supp., Crap, to crop or trim hedges. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Crop, to cut the branches from a felled tree. |
2. a. To pluck off, remove, or detach (any terminal parts of a plant); to snip off (twigs, leaves, etc.).
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 415, I must..ther it growed, croppe a plante of peche. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 58 My budding braunch thou wouldest cropp. 1611 Bible Ezek. xvii. 4 Hee cropt off the top of his yong twigs. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. Dict., To crop, is to break or pinch of useless Branches without cutting. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 24 a, Leaves of Trees cropt in the wane of the Moon. |
b. To gather, pluck, pick, or cull (a fruit, flower, or other produce of a plant).
arch. or
dial.| c 1450 Myrc 1502 Hast þow I-come in any sty And cropped ȝerus of corne þe by. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 134 To crop at once a too-long wither'd flowre. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 68 O Fruit Divine, Sweet of thy self, but much more sweet thus cropt. 1680 Otway Orphan iv. vii, A cruel Spoiler came, Cropt this fair Rose. 1809 Campbell Gertr. Wyom. iii. xxxvii, The hand is gone that cropt its flowers. |
c. Said of animals biting off the tops of plants or herbage in feeding; also
absol.| 1362 Langl P. Pl. A. vii. 35 Þei comen in-to my croft, And croppen my Whete. a 1500 Mourning of Hare (Hartshorn Metr. Tales 1829), I dar not sit to croppe on hawe. 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis iii. (Arb.) 77 Neere, we viewd..goats..cropping carelesse, not garded of heerdman. 1644 Quarles Barnabas & B. 70 Sheep..that crop the springing grass. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. x. 9 Sing, while my Cattel crop the tender Browze. 1717 Pope Iliad xi. 686 As the slow Beast..Crops the tall Harvest. 1850 Lynch Theo. Trin. v. 80, [I] listened to the browse of the sheep as they cropped the grass. |
† d. To feed on, eat.
Obs. Cf. L.
carpere.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 394 Makometh..Daunted a dowue and day and nyȝte hir fedde; Þe corne þat she cropped he caste it in his ere. |
3. To gather as a crop; to reap.
| 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster i. i, Or crooked sickles crop the ripen'd eare. 1608 Middleton Peacemaker Wks. 1886 VIII. 329 The frolic countryman opens the fruitful earth, and crops his plenty from her fertile bosom. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 310 He not only sowed in it the seed of thought..but cropped it for his daily bread. |
4. fig. (from 1 to 3). To cut off, lop off; to reap.
| 1549 Chaloner Erasmus on Folly P ij a, Those who through the divells instinction dooe go about to croppe Peters patrimonie. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 248 On me That cropt the Golden prime of this sweet Prince. 1659 Vulg. Errors Cens. 49 Too tender a bud to be cropp'd by Death. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. 4 Sophisters cropping of the inventions of other Men. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. v. iii, By the hundred and the thousand, men's lives are cropt. |
5. intr. To bear or yield a crop or crops; also with
compl.| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 233 She made great Cæsar lay his sword to bed, He ploughed her, and she cropt. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 397 No land would crop better than this mixture of warp and peat earth. 1877 Blackmore Cripps iii. 18 Oakleaf potatoes..warranted to beat the ashleaf by a fortnight, and to crop tenfold as much. |
6. a. trans. To cause to bear a crop; to sow or plant with a crop; to raise crops on. Also
intr., to cultivate land; to work as a farmer. Chiefly
U.S.| [1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 44 Few after crop much, but noddies and such.] 1607 Relat. Disc. in Arb. Capt. Smith's Wks. p. xlix, A plaine lowe grownd prepared for seede, part whereof had ben lately cropt. 1792 A. Young Trav. France (1794) II. x. 28 A field, entirely cropped with mulberries. 1844 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 162 It is usually cropped on the four-field or Norfolk course. a 1847 in H. Howe Hist. Coll. Ohio (1847) 357 He came down the Ohio to Cincinnati, and cropped the first season on Zeigler's stone house farm. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. xxii. (1876) 293 More land would be cropped with barley. 1903 Dialect Notes II. 310, I am cropping with Mr. Brown this year. |
b. trans. To grow or rear as a crop.
| 1921 Discovery Feb. 48/1 The pest..remains in existence until potatoes are again cropped in the field. |
7. To cut off the top or extremity of (the ears, tail, etc.), to cut off short;
esp. to cut the ears of animals as a means of identification, and of persons as a punishment.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 172 Stayeth his crying by cropping off the head. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. i. 14 Nor crop the eares of them. 1724 Swift Riddle, My skin he flay'd, my hair he cropt. 1796 Bp. Watson Apol. Bible 257 Having their ears cropt for perjury. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 36 As soon as a horse was purchased, his tail was cropped. 1864 H. Ainsworth John Law iv. vii. (1881) 212 That..puppy ought to have had his ears cropped for his impertinence. |
8. spec. a. To cut or clip short the ears, etc. of (an animal, person, etc.).
| 1578 in W. H. Turner Select Rec. Oxford 396 One grey..mare, crapped on the further yeare. 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 1007/4, 39 fat sheep..cropped in both Ears. 1764 Foote Patron i. i, And so get cropped for a libel. 1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen (1809) 24 A horse's ears cannot well be too long..Were he cropt, and that as close as we sometimes see them now a days, [etc.]. |
b. To cut the hair of (a person) close.
| 1796 Hull Advertiser 21 May 4/4 To crop, or not to crop, that is the question..and by a crop to say we end The head-ach. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1865) II. iv. xi. 42 Crop him, my jolly Barber; close down to the accurate standard. |
c. To clip the nap of (cloth); to shear.
| 1711 [implied in cropper2 2]. 1839 Carlyle Chartism viii. 168 The Saxon kindred burst forth into cotton-spinning, cloth-cropping. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 343/1 Cloth is usually ‘raised’ twice and ‘cropped’ several times. |
d. To cut down the margin of (a book) closely.
| 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 378 Copies are usually cropt. I never saw it uncut. 1885 C. Plummer Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. Introd. 88 The manuscript..has been a good deal cropped by the binder. |
e. (See
quot.)
| 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 20 Crop..to leave a portion of coal at the bottom of a seam in working. |
9. In mining districts (Durham, S. Wales, etc.): To dock, to fine.
| 1891 Labour Commission, Glossary of Terms. |
10. a. intr. Min. and
Geol. Of a stratum, vein, etc.: To come
up to the surface; to come
out and appear on the side of a slope, etc.
| 1665 D. Dudley Metal. Martis (1854) 27 The Coles Ascending, Basseting, or as the Colliers term it, Cropping up even unto the superfices of the earth. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 130 The coal which has cropt to the same point of its first diping..before it has reach't the surface and cropt out, has taken another dip agreeable to the first, and then again another crop agreeable to the former. 1698 St. Clair in Phil. Trans. XX. 379 A Vein of Bitumen or Naphtha that cropes (as the Miners call it) only here. 1792 Trans. Soc. Enc. Arts X. 136 Where the different strata or measures crop out. 1855 Lyell Elem. Geol. v. (ed. 5) 55 The ridges of the beds in the formations a, b, c, come out to the day, or, as the miners say, crop out on the sides of a valley. 1880 Academy 26 June 468 The mainland has a foundation of older rock which crops up in many places. |
b. fig. to crop up: to come up or turn up unexpectedly or incidentally, in the field of action, conversation, or thought.
| 1844 Disraeli Coningsby ii. vi, We shall have new men cropping up every session. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. ii. 143 The subject..having once cropped up in Exeter College common-room. |
c. fig. to crop out (rarely
forth): to come out, appear, or disclose itself incidentally.
| 1849 S. R. Maitland Ess. 288 The charge against the prisoner..crops out in the sequel. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. I. (1856) 486 Some of their superstitions, which crop out now and then through their adopted faith. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. ii. 174 All such outrage crop forth I' the course of nature. |
11. To remove the crop of (a bird).
| 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece i. ii. 139 Pull, crop, and draw your Pidgeons. |
12. to crop the causey (
Sc.): to take or keep the ‘crown of the causey’, to walk boldly in the centre or most conspicuous part of the street.
| a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1792) I. 176 All the Covenanters now proudly crop the cawsy. 1887 Balloch Pynours iv. 34 The merchant burgesses as a class proudly cropt the causey. |
▪ IV. crop var. of
crap n.2▪ V. crop, crope obs. pa. tense and
pple. of
creep.