crop-eared, a.
(ˈkrɒpˌɪəd)
[f. prec. + -ed.]
1. Having the ears cropped; esp. in dogs, horses, etc., as a means of identification, and in persons as a punishment.
| 1530 Wells Wills (1890) 194, ij cropyired heyfers. 1626 B. Jonson Masque of Owls, A crop-ear'd scrivener, this..He had his ears in his purse. 1629 Davenant Albovine Wks. (1673) 430 Crop-ear'd too, like Irish Nags. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4234/4 A Black Dutch Dog, crop Ear'd. 1841 Lytton Nt. & Morn. i. i, He purchased a crop-eared Welsh cob. |
2. Having the hair cut short, so that the ears are conspicuous.
This and related terms (cf. quot. 1641–2 in cropped 4), applied to the Puritans or ‘Round-heads’, were probably intended by their opponents to associate them with those whose ears had been cut off as a punishment.
| 1680 Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 477 Others say he was a crop-ear'd rogue. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Crop-ear'd-Fellow, whose Hair is so short it won't hide his Ears. 1760 Foote Minor 1, The sleek, crop-eared prentice. 1816 Scott Old Mort. viii, If I were to give the law, never a crop-ear'd cur of the whole pack should bark in a Scotch pulpit. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 354 Out on the crop-eared boor, That sent me with my standard on foot from Marston Moor. |