Etymology Mostly likely a back-etymology of pot, to form crack + pot. Originally, from crack + pate. Compare typologically Russian чо́кнутый (čóknutyj) (< чо́каться (čókatʹsja), onomatopoeic), see crack for the further typology.
Time will tell whether he is a crackpot or a genius for promoting that sort of idea.
The Police Commissioner sat studying Frank the Flower for several minutes. Then he called the policeman who had arrested Frank. “You will have to lock this man up,” he said. “But treat him gently. He is a harmless crackpot.”1964, Jean Merrill, The Pushcart War:
2 more examples
No one plots like Gaston / Takes cheap shots like Gaston / Plans to persecute harmless crackpots like Gaston1991, “Gaston (Reprise)”, in Howard Ashman (lyrics), Beauty and the Beast:
In the early 1990s, Ms. Feilding realized that the only way to overcome the taboo of these drugs — and her reputation as a crackpot — was to start a scientific foundation to fund research projects that governments and universities would never consider.2025 June 12, Michael S. Rosenwald, “Amanda Feilding, Eccentric Countess Who Backed Psychedelic Meds, Dies at 82”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 12 Jun 2025:
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Informal Someone addicted to crack cocaine (i.e. a drug addict).
Etymology Mostly likely a back-etymology of pot, to form crack + pot. Originally, from crack + pate. Compare typologically Russian чо́кнутый (čóknutyj) (< чо́каться (čókatʹsja), onomatopoeic), see crack for the further typology.
While all this was happening Mr. Dies on February 1, 1943, in a long speech on the floor of the House attacked thirty-nine named Government employees as 'irresponsible, unrepresentative, crackpot, radical bureaucrats' and affiliates of 'communist front organizations.'1946, Hugo Black, United States v. Lovett/Opinion of the Court: