Etymology From Middle English crok, crokke (“earthenware jar, pot, or other container; cauldron; belly, stomach”) [and other forms], from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *krokku, *krokkō, from Proto-Germanic *krukkō, *krukkô (“vessel”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“vessel”). The English word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian krukke (“jar”), Dutch kruik (“jar, jug”), regional German Kruke (“crock”), Icelandic krukka (“pot, jar”), Old English crōg, crōh (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). See also cruse.
A stoneware or earthenware jar or storage container.
1590-96, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, 1750, The Works of Spenser, Volume 3, page 181, Therefore the Vulgar did about him flock / And cluster thick unto his leaſings vain; / Like fooliſh Flies about an Honey-Crock; / In hope by him great Benefit to gain, / And uncontrolled Freedom to obtain.
He thin swore what he wouldn't do to him iv he didn't show him whare his money was. Tom luked so wicked, an' so bloody-minded, that the little man was quite frightened. "So," sez he, "come along wid me a couple o' fields aff, an' I'll show ye a crock o' gould."1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 375:
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A piece of broken pottery, a shard.
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UK, Slang A person who is physically limited by age, illness or injury.
old crocks’ home
He was getting very proud of the way he had learned to manage his game leg, and it occurred to him that here was a chance of testing his balance. […] “Not so bad that, for a crock,” he told himself, as he lay full length in the sun watching the faint line of the Haripol hills overtopping the ridge of Crask.1925, John Buchan, John Macnab, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0300621:
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He was in love with a girl, whose full name he did not tell me, and whom he had not seen for two years. She was a Lady Diana Someone, so much I knew, very lovely, a sort of relation, and he believed he had a chance if only the doctors could do something to help his asthma. “Can′t ask a girl to marry a crock.”1932, Helen Simpson, Boomerang, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0800611:
Girl: "Will you always be a bit of a crock?" Man: "According to my doctor, no." Girl: "I was afraid you looked bad-tempered because you were crocked up for life."2006, The Moving Finger, part one (Miss Marple, 15 min, 20 year old bicycling tomboy to injured walker)
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UK, Slang An old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse or ewe).
old crocks race
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Canada, US, Slang Silly talk, a foolish belief, a poor excuse, nonsense.
That's a bunch of crock.
The story is a crock.
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A low stool.
1709, Isaac Bickerstaff (Richard Steele), The Tatler, 1822, Alexander Chalmers (editor), The Tatler, 2007 Facsimile Edition, page 12, I then inquired for the person that belonged to the petticoat; and, to my great surprise, was directed to a very beautiful young damsel, with so pretty a face and shape, that I bid her come out of the crowd, and seated her upon a little crock at my left hand.
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Derogatory A patient who is difficult to treat, especially one who complains of a minor or imagined illness.
Mumford (1970) noted that the terms ‘crock’, ‘gomer’, and ‘turkey’, were sometimes utilized by interns to designate different types of undesirable patients, and sometimes used synonymously.1976, Stephen Charles Frankel, Emergency Medical Care in an Urban Area, page 118:
Etymology From Middle English crok, crokke (“earthenware jar, pot, or other container; cauldron; belly, stomach”) [and other forms], from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *krokku, *krokkō, from Proto-Germanic *krukkō, *krukkô (“vessel”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“vessel”). The English word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian krukke (“jar”), Dutch kruik (“jar, jug”), regional German Kruke (“crock”), Icelandic krukka (“pot, jar”), Old English crōg, crōh (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). See also cruse.
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To break something or injure someone.
"That last time I brought down Barry I crocked him. He's in his study now with a sprained ankle. ..."1904, P.G. Wodehouse, The Gold Bat:
Thousands of cars crocked by dodgy fuel2007 January 3, Daily Mirror:
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Ferreira ... peremptorily expunges England’s World Cup chances by crocking Wayne Rooney.2006 April 30, The Sunday Times:
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.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
Colored fabrics should be dried separately for the first few times to prevent crocking (rubbing off of dye).1964, Isabel Barnum Wingate, Know Your Merchandise, page 109:
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In leather garments, lining also prevents crocking of color onto skin or garments worn underneath.2002, Sandy Scrivano, Sewing With Leather & Suede, →ISBN, page 95:
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Agriculture, Business, Horticulture, Lifestyle To cover the drain holes of a planter with stones or similar material, in order to ensure proper drainage.
The pots should be crocked for drainage to one-half their depth and the plants made moderately firm in the compost, as already indicated...1900, H.A. Burberry, The Amateur Orchid Cultivators' Guide Book, page 21:
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Dialectal To put or store (something) in a crock or pot.
She filled the pail and carried it down to the springhouse to crock it and leave it to cool.1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
The loose black particles collected from combustion, as on pots and kettles, or in a chimney; soot; smut.
[…] “here I stand talking to mere Mooncalfs, with Uncle Pumblechook waiting, and the mare catching cold at the door, and the boy grimed with crock and dirt from the hair of his head to the sole of his foot!”1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VII, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 109: