Crap sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Crap sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Crap sb.1

Obs. or dial. Also 5 crappe. [Identical with earlier Du. krappe ‘carptus, carptura, res decerpta, frustum decerptum siue abscissum, pars abrasa siue abscissa; pars carnis abscissa; crustum; offella, offula; placenta; pulpamentum’ (Kilian, 1599), connected with krappen to pluck off, cut off, separate. Cf. also F. crape, OF. crappe siftings, also ‘the grain trodden under feet in the barn, and mingled with the straw and dust’ (M. L. Delisle in Godef.), med.L. crappa in Du Cange. (Cf. also crapinum the smaller chaff.) In mod.F. the word has taken the sense of ‘dirt, filth,’ and ‘grease of a millstone.’ It is doubtful whether all the senses here placed belong to one word, though a common notion of ‘rejected or left matter, residue, dregs, dust’ runs through them.]

1

  † 1.  The husk of grain; chaff. Obs.

2

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 100. Crappe, or gropys of corne, acus.

3

1483.  Cath. Angl., 80. Crappes, acus.

4

  2.  A name of some plants: a. Buckwheat. b. Applied locally to various weeds growing among corn, as Darnel, Rye-grass, Charlock.

5

c. 1425.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 664/29. Hoc siligo, rye … Hec curalis, crappys. Ibid. (c. 1450), 726/16. Hec vicia, a fech. Hec cruralis, craps. Hoc exaticum, byge.

6

1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 324. Crap, in some places Darnel is so called, and in some it signifies Buckwheat.

7

1674.  Ray, S. & E. C. Words, Crap, darnel, Sussex. In Worcestershire and other countries they call buck-wheat crap. [Kennett makes the former Crop, Phillips (ed. Kersey) makes both Crop.]

8

1808–25.  Jamieson, Craps … runches in general.

9

1875.  Parish, Sussex Gloss., Crap or Crapgrass, Ray-grass, Lolium perenne.

10

  3.  The residue formed in rendering, boiling or melting fat; cracklings, graves; hence crap-cake, tallow-craps. In this sense it varies with scraps. (Usually in pl.)

11

1490–9.  Promp. Parv., 101 (MS. H. & ed. Pynson). Crawke or crappe, cremium. (See CRAWKE.)

12

1876.  Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Crappins or Craps, the shreds from pig’s fat, after the lard is melted out.

13

1877.  Holderness Gloss., Craps are eaten with salt to tea, &c. In North Holderness the refuse pieces after tallow-boiling are also called craps.

14

1877.  E. Peacock, N. W. Linc. Gloss., Craps, Scraps, scraps of pig’s fat which remain after the lard has been extracted by boiling. People eat them with mustard, vinegar, and pepper.

15

  4.  ‘The dregs of beer or ale’ (Halliwell).

16

1879.  Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Crap, Crop, the settlings of ale or beer at the bottom of a barrel, sometimes used instead of barm.

17

  5.  Money. slang or dial. [A cant use of some of the prec. senses, or of F. crape dirt: cf. ‘dust.’]

18

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Crap, Money.

19

1746.  J. Collier (Tim Bobbin), View Lanc. Dial., To Rdr. I’m poor Got-wot … My Crap’s aw done.

20

1787.  Grose, Provinc. Gloss., Crap … in the north it is sometimes used for money.

21

  6.  A SCRAP: perh. due to confusion of the words.

22

1515.  Barclay, Egloges, ii. (1570), B iij/4. And sometime to thee is sent a little crap With sauour therof to take thee in the trap.

23

1520.  Whitinton, Vulg. (1527), 42 b. Gadre vp the crappes & cromes clene.

24

1570.  Levins, Manip., 26. A crape, mica, gramum [Levins has not Scrap].

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