crocus
Or CROAKUS, a quack or travelling doctor; CROCUS-CHOVEY, a chemist’s shop.
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croker
A groat, or four pence.
crone
An old ewe whose teeth are worn out; figuratively, a toothless old beldam.
crone
A termagant or malicious old woman. CRONY, an intimate friend.
crony
An intimate companion, a comrade; also a confederate in a robbery.
crony capitalism
Economic system where success is based on connections and favors
crook
Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.
crook back
Sixpence; for the reason of this name, see CRIPPLE.
crook shanks
A nickname for a man with bandy legs. He buys his boots in Crooked Lane, and his stockings in Bandy-legged Walk; his legs grew in the night, therefore could not see to grow straight; jeering sayings of men with crooked legs.
crooked
A term used among dog-stealers and the "fancy" generally, to denote anything stolen. "Got on the CROOK" is exchangeable with "Got on the cross," CROOK and cross generally being synonymous.
crooked as a gaff
Here gaff is an iron hook at the end of a short pole, used for landing salmon, etc., or the metal spur of fighting- cocks. (Span, and Port, gafa, a boat-hook.
crooky
To hang on to, to lead, to walk arm-in-arm; to court or pay addresses to a girl.
crop
A nick name for a presbyterian: from their cropping their hair, which they trimmed close to a bowl-dish, placed as a guide on their heads; whence they were likewise called roundheads. See ROUNDHEADS.
crop up
To appear or happen unexpectedly
crop up
To turn up in the course of conversation. "It CROPPED UP while we were speaking."
cropped
Hanged. Sometimes topped. "May I be topped."
croppen
The tail. The croppen of the rotan; the tail of the cart. Croppen ken: the necessary-house. CANT.
cropper
A heavy fall, a decided failure. Term originally used in the hunting-field, but now general, and not at all confined to physical matters.
croppie
A person who has had his hair cut, or CROPPED, in prison. Formerly those who had been CROPPED (i.e., had their ears cut off and their noses slit) by the public executioner were called CROPPIES, then the Puritans received the reversion of the title.
cropping drums
Drummers of the foot guards, or Chelsea hospital, who find out weddings, and beat a point of war to serenade the new married couple, and thereby obtain money.
cropsick
Sickness in the stomach, arising from drunkenness.
cross
To come home by weeping cross; to repent at the conclusion.
cross
A deception—two persons pretending hostility or indifference to each other, being all the while in concert for the purpose of deceiving a third. In the sporting world a CROSS is an arrangement made between two men that one shall win without reference to relative merits. This is sometimes done with the backer’s consent for the public benefit, at other times a backer is himself the sufferer, the men having "put some one in to lay," according to instructions.—See DOUBLE CROSS.
Cross and Ball
The orb of royalty is a sphere or ball surmounted by a cross, an emblem of empire introduced in representa- tions of our Saviour. The cross stands above the ball, to signify that the spiritual power is above the temporal.
Cross and Pile
The obverse and reverse sides of a coin, head and tail; hence, money generally, pitch and toss, etc. Pile is French for the reverse of a coin, and the other side for centuries was marked with a cross.
cross bite
One who combines with a sharper to draw in a friend; also, to counteract or disappoint. CANT.--This is peculiarly used to signify entrapping a man so as to obtain CRIM. COM. money, in which the wife, real or supposed, conspires with the husband.
cross buttock
A particular lock or fall in the Broughtonian art, which, as Mr. Fielding observes, conveyed more pleasant sensations to the spectators than the patient.
cross cove and molisher
A man and woman who live by thieving.
cross dishonest
A cross cove; any person who lives by stealing or in a dishonest manner.
cross my heart and hope to die
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
cross of gold
A symbol of wealth or materialism that is revered or worshiped
cross off
Remove or eliminate something from a list
cross out
To delete or cancel something
cross patch
A peevish boy or girl, or rather an unsocial ill-tempered man or woman.
cross paths
Meet or encounter someone by chance
cross someone's palm
to pay or bribe someone
cross someone's path
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
cross that bridge when one comes to it
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
cross the aisle
To cooperate or form an alliance with someone from a different political party
cross the line
to go beyond what is acceptable or reasonable
cross the stream where it is shallowest
Act where it is easiest or safest
cross the Thames
to attend a meeting or event in a different part of a city
cross the Tiber
To convert to Catholicism
cross to take up
to accept a challenge
cross with its beak
Schwenckfeld in 1603 {Theriotropheum Silesia) gave the fable in the Latin verses of Johannes Major; but it would be better known to English readers through Longfellow's "Legend of the Crossbill" from the German of Julius Mosen.
cross-buttock
An unexpected fling down or repulse; from a peculiar throw practised by wrestlers.
cross-crib
A house frequented by thieves.
Cross-legged Knights
Crusaders were gen- erally represented on their tombs with crossed legs.
crossed
Prohibited from taking food from the buttery.—University.
crossword puzzle
A puzzle in which words must be discovered to fill in, letter by letter, the squares into which a rectangular diagram is divided. Clues are furnished and most of the letters form parts of two words, one reading across and the other down the rectangle. There have long been simple puzzles of this nature, but the more ingenious crossword was invented in U.S.A., about 1923, and immediately welcomed in Britain.
crotch crickets
Pubic lice.
crotch critter
A sexually transmitted pathogen, particularly pubic lice.
crotch down
To crouch.
crotch dumpling
A child.
crotch goblin
A child.
crotchling
A child.
Crotona's Sage
Pythagoras. So called because at Crotona he established his chief school of philosophy (about 530 B.C.). Such success followed his teaching that the whole aspect of the town became more moral and decorous in a marvellously short time.
crow
Or COCK-CROW, to exult over another’s abasement, as a fighting-cock does over his vanquished adversary.
crow fair
A visitation of the clergy. See REVIEW OF THE BLACK CUIRASSIERS.
crow to pick
a dispute or issue to be settled
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