Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

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CRIZZEL — CROW-TOE

CRIZZEL, CRIZZELING, n. [See Crisp.] A kind of roughness on the surface of glass, which clouds its transparency.

CROAK, v.i. [L. G. See Crow.]

1. To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog or other animal.

2. To caw; to cry as a raven or crow.

3. To make any low, muttering sound, resembling that of a frog or raven; as, their bellies croak.

4. In contempt, to speak with a low, hollow voice.

CROAK, n. The low, harsh sound uttered by a frog or a raven, or a like sound.

CROAKER, n. One that croaks, murmurs or grumbles; one who complains unreasonably.

CROAKING, ppr. Uttering a low, harsh sound from the throat, or other similar sound.

CROAKING, n. A low, harsh sound, as of a frog, or the bowels.

CROATS, n. Troops, natives or Croatia.

CROCALITE, n. A mineral, a variety of zeolite, of an orange or brick red color. It is sometimes found in reniform or globular masses, with a radiated texture.

CROCEOUS, a. [L.] Like saffron; yellow; consisting of saffron.

CROCHES, n. Little buds or knobs about the tops of a deers horn.

CROCITATION, n. [L.] A croaking.

CROCK, n. An earthen vessel; a pot or pitcher; a cup.

CROCK, n. Soot, or the black matter collected from combustion on pots and kettles, or in a chimney.
CROCK, v.t. or i. To black with soot, or other matter collected from combustion; or to black with the coloring matter of cloth.

CROCKERY, n. [See Crock.] Earthen ware; vessels formed of clay, glazed and baked. The term is applied to the coarser kinds of ware; the finer kinds being usually called china or porcelain.

CROCODILE, n. [Gr., saffron, and fearing. L.]

1. An amphibious animal of the genus Lacerta or lizard, of the largest kind. It has a naked body, with four feet and a tail; it has five toes on the fore feet, and four on the hind feet. It grows to the length of sixteen or eighteen feet, runs swiftly on land, but does not easily turn itself. It inhabits the large rivers in Africa and Asia, and lays its eggs, resembling those of a goose, in the sand, to be hatched by the heat of the sun. [See Alligator.]

2. In rhetoric, a captious and sophistical argument contrived to draw one into a snare.

CROCODILE, a. Pertaining to or like a crocodile; as crocodile tears, that is, false or affected tears, hypocritical sorrow.

CROCUS, n. [Gr.]

1. Saffron, a genus of plants.

2. In chimistry, a yellow powder; any metal calcined to a red or deep yellow color.

CROFT, n. [L., Gr., to conceal.] A little close adjoining or near to a dwelling house, and used for pasture, tillage or other purposes.

CROISADE, n. A holy war; an expedition of Christians against the infidels, for the conquest of Palestine. [See the more common word, Crusade.]

CROISES, n. [See Cross.]

1. Soldiers enrolled under the banners of the cross.

2. Pilgrims who carry the cross.

CROKER, n. A fowl that inhabits the Chesapeak and the large rivers in Virginia; sometimes of three feet in length.

CROMLECH, n. Huge flat stones resting on other stones, set on end for that purpose; supposed to be the remains of druidical altars.

CRONE, n. [Gr., old.]

1. An old woman.

2. An old ewe.

CRONET, n. [coronet.]

1. The hair which grows over the top of a horses hoof.

2. The iron at the end of a tilting spade.

CRONICAL, CRONYCAL. [See Acronical.]

CRONY, n. [See Crone. But this word seems to carry the sense of fellowship; to join, to associate; whence its derivative, an associate.] An intimate companion; an associate; a familiar friend.

To oblige your crony Swift, bring our dame a new years gift.

Hence, an old crony is an intimate friend of long standing.

CROOK, n. [G., the back, or ridge of an animal. L., a wrinkle, a circle; rough, hoarse. The radical sense of crook is to strain or draw; hence, to bend.]

1. Any bend, turn or curve; or a bent or curving instrument. We speak of a crook in a stick of timber, or in a river; and any hook is a crook.

2. A shepherd staff, curving at the end; a pastoral staff. When used by a bishop or abbot, it is called a crosier.

He left his crook, he left his flocks.

3. A gibbet.

4. An artifice; a trick.

CROOK, v.t.

1. To bend; to turn from a straight line; to make a curve or hook.

2. To turn from rectitude; to pervert.

3. To thwart. [Little used.]

CROOK, v.i. To bend or be bent; to be turned from a right line; to curve; to wind.

CROOK-BACK, n. A crooked back; one who has a crooked back or round shoulders.

CROOK-BACKED, a. Having a round back, or shoulders.

CROOKED, pp. or a.

1. Bent; curved; curving; winding.

2. Winding in moral conduct; devious; froward; perverse; going out of the path of rectitude; given to obliquity or wandering from duty.

They are a perverse and crooked generation. Deuteronomy 32:5.

CROOKEDLY, adv.

1. In a winding manner.

2. Untowardly; not compliantly.

CROOKEDNESS, n.

1. A winding, bending or turning; curvity; curvature; inflection.

2. Perverseness; untowardness; deviation from rectitude; iniquity; obliquity of conduct.

3. Deformity of a gibbous body.

CROOKEN, v.t. To make crooked. [Not in use.]

CROOKING, ppr. Bending; winding.

CROOK-KNEED, a. Having crooked knees.

CROOK-SHOULDERED, a. Having bent shoulders.

CROOP, CROUP, n. The disease called technically cynanche trachealis, and affection of the throat accompanied with a hoarse difficult respiration. It is vulgarly called rattles.

CROP, n. [G., L. The crop of a fowl, and a crop of grain or hay are consistently the same word.]

1. The first stomach of a fowl; the craw.

2. The top or highest part of a thing; the end. [Not in use.]

3. That which is gathered; the corn, or fruits of the earth collected; harvest. The word includes every species of fruit or produce, gathered for man or beast.

4. Corn and other cultivated plants while growing; a popular use of the word.

5. Any thing cut off or gathered.

6. Hair cut close or short.

CROP, v.t.

1. To cut off the ends of any thing; to eat off; to pull off; to pluck; to mow; to reap; as, to crop flowers, trees, or grass. Man crops trees or plants with an instrument, or with his fingers; a beast crops with his teeth.

2. To cut off prematurely; to gather before it falls.

While force our youth, like fruits, untimely crops.

CROP, v.i. To yield harvest. [Not in use.]

CROP-EAR, n. [crop and ear.] A horse whose ears are cropped.

CROP-EARED, a. Having the ears cropped.

CROPFUL, a. Having a full crop or belly; satiated.

CROPPED, CROPT, pp. Cut off; plucked; eaten off; reaped, or mowed.

CROPPER, n. A pigeon with a large crop.

CROPPING, ppr. Cutting off; pulling off; eating off; reaping, or mowing.

CROPPING, n.

1. The act of cutting off.

2. The raising of crops.

CROP-SICK, a. Sick or indisposed from a surcharged stomach; sick with excess in eating or drinking.

CROP-SICKNESS, n. Sickness from repletion of the stomach. L.

CROSIER, n.

1. A bishop crook or pastoral staff, a symbol of pastoral authority and care. It consists of a gold or silver staff, crooked at the top, and is carried occasionally before bishops and abbots, and held in the hand when they give solemn benedictions. The use of crosiers is ancient. Originally a crosier was a staff with a cross on the top, in form of a crutch or T.

2. In astronomy, four stars in the southern hemisphere, in the form of a cross.

CROSLET, n. [See Cross.] A small cross. In heraldry, a cross crossed at a small distance from the ends.

CROSS, n. [G., L.]

1. A gibbet consisting of two pieces of timber placed across each other, either in form of a T or of an X. That on which our Savior suffered, is represented on coins and other monuments, to have been of the former kind.

2. The ensign of the Christian religion; and hence figuratively, the religion itself.

3. A monument with a cross upon it to excite devotion, such as were anciently set in market places.

4. Any thing in the form of a cross or gibbet.

5. A line drawn through another.

6. Any thing that thwarts, obstructs, or perplexes; hindrance; vexation; misfortune; opposition; trial of patience.

Heaven prepares good men with crosses.

7. Money or coin stamped with the figure of a cross.

8. The right side or face of a coin, stamped with a cross.

9. The mark of a cross, instead of a signature, on a deed, formerly impressed by those who could not write.

10. Church lands in Ireland.

11. In theology, the suffering of Christ by crucifixion.

That he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross. Ephesians 2:16.

12. The doctrine of Christs sufferings and of the atonement, or of salvation by Christ.

The preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1:18; Galatians 5:11.

To take up the cross, is to submit to troubles and afflictions from love to Christ.

13. In mining, two nicks cut in the surface of the earth, thus +.

Cross and pile, a play with money, at which it is put to chance whether a coin shall fall with that side up, which bears the cross, or the other which is called pile or reverse.

CROSS, a.

1. Transverse; oblique; passing from side to side; falling athwart; as a cross beam.

The cross refraction of a second prism.

2. Adverse; opposite; obstructing; sometimes with to; as an event cross to our inclinations.

3. Perverse; untractable; as the cross circumstances of a man’s temper.

4. Peevish; fretful; ill-humored; applied to persons or things; as a cross woman or husband; a cross answer.

5. Contrary; contradictory; perplexing.

Contradictions that seem to lie cross and uncouth.

6. Adverse; unfortunate.

Behold the cross and unlucky issue of my design.

7. Interchanged; as a cross marriage, when a brother and sister intermarry with two persons who have the same relation to each other.

8. Noting what belongs to an adverse party; as a cross interrogatory.

CROSS, prep. Athwart; transversely; over; from side to side; so as to intersect.

This is admissible in poetry, as an abbreviation of across.

CROSS, v.t.

1. To draw or run a line, or lay a body across another; as, to cross a word in writing; to cross the arms.

2. To erase; to cancel; as, to cross an account.

3. To make the sign of the cross, as catholics in devotion.

4. To pass from side to side; to pass or move over; as, to cross a road; to cross a river, or the ocean. I crossed the English channel, from Dieppe to Brighton, in a steam-boat, Sept. 18, 1824.

5. To thwart; to obstruct; to hinder; to embarrass; as, to cross a purpose or design.

6. To counteract; to clash or interfere with; to be inconsistent with; as, natural appetites may cross our principles.

7. To counteract or contravene; to hinder by authority; to stop. [See No. 5.]

8. To contradict.

9. To debar or preclude.

To cross the breed of an animal, is to produce young from different varieties of the species.

CROSS, v.i.

1. To lie or be athwart.

2. To move or pass laterally, or from one side towards the other, or from place to place, either at right angles or obliquely; as, to cross from Nantucket to New Bedford.

3. To be inconsistent; as, mens actions d not always cross with reason.

CROSS-ARMED, a. With arms across. In botany, brachiate; decussated; having branches in pairs, each at right angles with the next.

CROSS-BARRED, a. Secured by transverse bars.

CROSS-BAR-SHOT, n. A bullet with an iron bar passing through it, and standing out a few inches on each side; used in naval actions for cutting the enemys rigging.

CROSS-BEARER, n. In the Romish church, the chaplain of an archbishop or primate, who bears a cross before him on solemn occasions. Also, a certain officer in the inquisition, who makes a vow before the inquisitors to defend the Catholic faith, though with the loss of fortune and life.

CROSS-BILL, n. In chancery, an original bill by which the defendant prays relief against the plaintiff.

CROSS-BILL, n. A species of bird, the Loxia curvirostra, the mandibles of whose bill curve opposite ways and cross each other.

CROSS-BITE, n. A deception; a cheat.

CROSS-BITE, v.t. To thwart or contravene by deception.

CROSS-BOW, n. In archery, a missive weapon formed by placing a bow athwart a stock.

CROSS-BOWER, n. One who shoots with a cross-bow.

CROSSCUT, v.t. To cut across.

CROSSCUT-SAW, n. A saw managed by two men, one at each end.

CROSSED, pp. Having a line drawn over; canceled; erased; passed over; thwarted; opposed; obstructed; counteracted.

CROSS-EXAMINATION, n. The examination or interrogation of a witness called by one party, by the opposite party or his counsel.

CROSS-EXAMINE, v.t. To examine a witness by the opposite party or his counsel, as the witness for the plaintiff by the defendant, and vice versa.

The opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses has been expressly waived.

CROSS-EXAMINED, pp. Examined or interrogated by the opposite party.

CROSS-FLOW, v.i. To flow across.

CROSS-GRAINED, a.

1. Having the grain or fibers across or irregular; as in timber, where a branch shoots from the trunk, there is a curling of the grain.

2. Perverse; untractable; not condescending.

CROSSING, ppr. Drawing; running or passing a line over; erasing; canceling; thwarting; opposing; counteracting; passing over.

CROSSING, n. A thwarting; impediment; vexation.

CROSS-JACK, n. cro-jeck. A sail extended on the lower yard of the mizen mast; but seldom used.

CROSS-LEGGED, a. Having the legs across.

CROSSLY, adv.

1. Athwart; so as to intersect something else.

2. Adversely; in opposition; unfortunately.

3. Peevishly; fretfully.

CROSSNESS, n. Peevishness; fretfulness; ill humor; perverseness.

CROSS-PIECE, n. A rail of timber extending over the windlass of a ship, furnished with pins with which to fasten the rigging, as occasion requires.

CROSS-PURPOSE, n. A contrary purpose; contradictory system; also, a conversation in which one person does or pretends to misunderstand anothers meaning. An enigma; a riddle.

CROSS-QUESTION, v.t. To cross examine.

CROSS-ROW, n.

1. The alphabet, so named because a cross is placed at the beginning, to show that the end of learning is piety.

2. A row that crosses others.

CROSS-SEA, n. Waves running across others; a swell running in different directions.

CROSS-STAFF, n. An instrument to take the altitude of the sun or stars.

CROSS-STONE, n. A mineral called also harmotome, and staurolite. It is almost always in crystals. Its single crystals are rectangular four-sided prisms, broad or compressed, and terminated by four-sided pyramids, with rhombic faces, which stand on the lateral edges. But this mineral is generally found in double crystals, composed of two of the preceding crystals, so intersecting each other, that the broader planes of one prism are perpendicular to the broader planes of the other, throughout their whole length. Its color is a grayish white or milk white, sometimes with a shade of yellow or red.

CROSS-TINING, n. In husbandry, a harrowing by drawing the harrow or drag back and forth on the same ground.

CROSS-TREES, n. In ships, certain pieces of timber, supported by the cheeks and trestle-trees, at the upper ends of the lower masts, to sustain the frame of the top, and on the top masts, to extend the topgallant shrouds.

CROSS-WAY, CROSS-ROAD, n. A way or road that crosses another road or the chief road; an obscure path intersecting the main road.

CROSS-WIND, n. A side wind; an unfavorable wind.

CROSS-WISE, adv. Across; in the form of a cross.

CROSS-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Valantia.

CROTCH, n. [See Crook and Crutch.]

1. A fork or forking; the parting of two legs or branches; as the crotch of a tree.

2. In ships, a crooked timber placed on the keel, in the fore and aft parts of a ship.

3. A piece of wood or iron, opening on the top and extending two horns or arms, like a half moon, used for supporting a boom, a spare topmast, yards, etc.

CROTCHED, a. Having a crotch; forked.

CROTCHET, n. [See Crook.]

1. In printing, a hook including words, a sentence or a passage distinguished form the rest, thus [ ].

2. In music, a note or character, equal in time to half a minim, and double of a quaver.

3. A piece of wood resembling a fork, used as a support in building.

4. A peculiar turn of the mind; a whim, or fancy; a perverse conceit.

All the devices and crotchets of new inventions.

CROTCHETED, a. Marked with crotchets.

CROUCH, v.i. [G., to creep, to stoop, to cringe.]

1. To bend down; to stoop low; to lie close to the ground; as an animal. A dog crouches to his master; a lion crouches in the thicket.

2. To bend servilely; to stoop meanly; to fawn; to cringe.

Every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of bread. 1 Samuel 2:36.

CROUCH, v.t. [See Cross.] To sign with the cross; to bless. [Not in use.]

CROUCHING, ppr. Bending; stooping; cringing.

CROUP, CROOP, n.

1. The rump of a fowl; the buttocks of a horse, or extremity of the reins above the hips.

2. [See Croop.] The cynanche trachealis, a disease of the throat.

CROUPADE, CROOPADE, n. [from croup, or its root.] In the manege, a leap in which the horse pulls up his hind legs, as if he drew them up to his belly.

CROUT, KROUT, n. [G., an herb.] Sour crout is made by laying minced or chopped cabbage in layers in a barrel, with a handful of salt and caraway seeds between the layers; then ramming down the whole, covering it, pressing it with a heavy weight, and suffering it to stand, till it has gone through fermentation. It is an efficacious preservative against scurvy in long voyages.

CROW, n. [G., L.]

1. A large black fowl, of the genus Corvus; the beak is convex and cultrated, the nostrils are covered with bristly feathers, the tongue is forked and cartilaginous. This is a voracious fowl, feeding on carrion and grain, particularly maiz, which it pulls up, just after it appears above ground.

To pluck or pull a crow, is to be industrious or contentious about a trifle, or thing of no value.

2. A bar of iron with a beak, crook or two claws, used in raising and moving heavy weights.

3. The voice of the cock. [See the Verb.]

CROW, v.i. pret. and pp. crowed; formerly, pret. crew. [Gr. See the Noun.]

1. To cry or make a noise as a cock, in joy, gaiety or defiance.

2. To boast in triumph; to vaunt; to vapor; to swagger. [A popular, but not an elegant use of the word.]

CROW-BAR, n. A bar of iron sharpened at one end, used as a lever for raising weights.

CROW-BERRY, n. A plant of the genus Empetrum, or berry-bearing heath. One species bears the crow-crake berries.

CROW’S-BILL, n. In surgery, a kind of forceps for extracting bullets and other things from wounds.

CROW’S-FEET, n. The wrinkles under the eyes, which are the effects of age.

CROW-FLOWER, n. A kind of campion.

CROW-FOOT, n.

1. On board of ships, a complication of small cords spreading out from a long block; used to suspend the awnings, or to keep the top sails from striking and fretting against the tops.

2. In botany, the Ranunculus, a genus of plants.

CROW’S-FOOT, n. In the military art, a machine of iron, with four points, so formed that in whatever way it falls, there is one point upwards, and intended to stop or embarrass the approach or march of the enemys cavalry; a caltrop.

CROWING, ppr. Uttering a particular voice, as a cock; boasting in triumph; vaunting; bragging.

CROW-KEEPER, n. A scarecrow. [Not used.]

CROW-NET, n. In England, a net for catching wild fowls; the net used in New England for catching wild pigeons.

CROW-SILK, n. A plant, the Conferva rivalis.

CROW-TOE, n. A plant; as the tufted crow-toe.