Crock
WordNet
noun
(1) An earthen jar (made of baked clay)
(2) Nonsense; foolish talk
"That's a crock"
(3) A black colloidal substance consisting wholly or principally of amorphous carbon and used to make pigments and ink
verb
(4) Soil with or as with crock
(5) Release color when rubbed, of badly dyed fabric
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Crock comes from Old English crocc, crucca, which means earthenware pot or pitcher. A written record of the word crock dates back to 1000 AD. It might have been the common Anglo-Saxon term for pot before 1066 AD. Cognates include Danish , German , Icalandic .
Noun
- A stoneware or earthenware jar or storage container.
- A piece of broken pottery, a shard.
- A person who is physically limited by age or injury. Old crocks home = home for the aged
- An old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse). Old crocks race = veteran car rally
- Silly talk, a foolish belief, a poor excuse, nonsense. (as in "that is a bunch of crock" or "the story is a crock")
Verb
- To break something or injure someone.
- 1904, P.G. Wodehouse, The Gold Bat http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/gldbt10.txt:
- "That last time I brought down Barry I crocked him. He's in his study now with a sprained ankle. ..."
- 2007 January 3, Daily Mirror:
- Thousands of cars crocked by dodgy fuel
- 2006 April 30, The Sunday Times:
- Ferreira ... peremptorily expunges England’s World Cup chances by crocking Wayne Rooney.
- To transfer coloring through abrasion from one item to another.
- 1917, John H. Pfingsten, "Colouring-matter for leather and method of using the same" http://www.google.com/patents?id=G3xVAAAAEBAJ, US Patent 1371572, page 1:
- thus producing a permanent, definite color thereon which will not fade or crock, and at the same time using up all of the coloring matter.
- 1964, Isabel Barnum Wingate, Know Your Merchandise http://books.google.com/books?id=XuJGAAAAMAAJ, page 109:
- Colored fabrics should be dried separately for the first few times to prevent crocking (rubbing off of dye).
- 2002, Sandy Scrivano, Sewing With Leather & Suede http://books.google.com/books?id=3ZXZ6f2KNLwC, ISBN 1579902731, page 95:
- In leather garments, lining also prevents crocking of color onto skin or garments worn underneath.
- To cover the drain holes of a planter with stones or similar material, in order to ensure proper drainage.
- 1900, H.A. Burberry, The Amateur Orchid Cultivators' Guide Book http://books.google.com/books?id=PeECAAAAYAAJ, page 21:
- The pots should be crocked for drainage to one-half their depth and the plants made moderately firm in the compost, as already indicated...