Goodman's Croft
Preserved but no longer current.
The name given in Scotland to a strip of ground or corner of a field left untilled, in the belief that unless some such place were left, the spirit of evil would damage the crop. Here Goodman is a propitiatory euphemism for the devil.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Goodman's Croft” mean?
The name given in Scotland to a strip of ground or corner of a field left untilled, in the belief that unless some such place were left, the spirit of evil would damage the crop. Here Goodman is a propitiatory euphemism for the devil.
Is “Goodman's Croft” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.