crop English · revision 7247

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 700|origins=gem-pro *kruppaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɹɒp/ ''(UK)''; /kɹɑp/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|cropp|t=head or top of a herb; bird's craw]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) cognate with Old High German [[m|goh|kropf|t=swelling on a bird's throat, craw]] and Old Norse kroppr, body.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The common notion is a protuberance.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The rounded head of a herb or flower: about 700 in Barnhart and the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) A bird's craw is from about 1000.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The OED notes that Old English had only the senses ''bird's craw'' and ''head of a herb'', and that the further senses ''top'' and ''produce of the field'' are exclusively English.^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) The produce of cultivated plants, especially a year's grain yield, is from the early 14th century, probably via the verb ''cut off the top of a plant'' (about 1200).^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) From ''top'' came the upper part of a whip, its handle (1560s), and a hunting whip (1857).^(Etymonline) Anything gathered when ready is from the 1570s, and a short head of hair from 1795.^(Etymonline) ''Crop up'', to appear unexpectedly, is from 1844, from an earlier mining use of strata coming to the surface (1660s).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 700 – the head of a herb.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1000 – a bird's craw.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – to cut off the top (verb).^(Etymonline)

+ * early 14th century – a harvest.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1795 – a short haircut.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1844 – crop up.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A plant grown for food, especially a cereal or vegetable, or the yield of it in a season.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A group or quantity appearing at one time: ''this year's crop of students''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A pouch in a bird's gullet where food is stored before digestion.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A very short haircut.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A short whip used in riding.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cut very short; to cut off the edges of a picture.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of animals, to bite off the tops of plants.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(crop up)'' To appear or happen unexpectedly.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cropless]]

+ * [[cropper]]

+ * [[outcrop]]

+ * [[sharecrop]]

+ * [[sharecropper]]

+ * [[crop-dusting]]

+ * [[stonecrop]]

+ * [[cropland]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[group]]

+ * [[croup]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}