Word Confusion: Croc versus Crock

Plural: crocs

Plural for the noun and third person present verb: crocks
Past tense or past participle: crocked
Gerund or present participle: crocking

• A broken piece of earthenware
• Potshard

[North American; informal] Something considered to be complete nonsense

[Informal] An old person who is feeble and useless ²

• A person or thing that is old, decrepit, or broken-down
• An old and worn-out vehicle

[Slang] A person who complains about or insists on being treated for an imagined illness

An old ewe

An old worn-out horse

[British dialect] Soot ³

Excess surface dye that rubs off from imperfectly dyed cloth

]Slang] A lie ⁴

• Exaggeration
• Nonsense

• Smut

Verb, intransitive:
[British; of cloth] To give off excess surface dye when rubbed ³

Verb, transitive:
[British] Cause an injury to a person or part of the ²

• To disable or injure

[British dialect] To soil with soot ³

“Croc,” she whispered, her eyes wide in fright.

Please. As if I’d stand around waiting for a croc to grab me.

The zoo has a unique exhibit of crocs.

The croc had taken him in a death roll.

The electronic age in which we use so much less paper is such a crock.

I love to collect those old crocks, using them as wastebaskets, planters, and more.

I’m an old crock and he’s an old duffer.

That old mare is crock.

That is such a crock of shit.

What a crock!

I’d love to be finding me a crock of gold.

Verb, intransitive:
No, don’t use that tablecloth. It crocks and will rub off on everyone’s elbows.

That red print is crocked.

Crocking determines the amount of color transferred from the surface of colored textile material to other surfaces by rubbing.

They did a lousy job of dyeing this fabric. Look at how much it crocks.

Verb, transitive:
He crocked a shoulder in the test against South Africa.

The chimney is crocked.

All the boys were crocked.

The color from his jeans had crocked on the fabric of the recliner.

The striker was crocked in a practice match.

1. Old English croc, crocca is of Germanic origin and related to the Old Norse krukka and probably to the Dutch kruik and the German Krug.
2. Late Middle English, perhaps from the Flemish, and probably related to crack. Originally a Scots term for an old ewe, in the late 19th century it came to denote an old or broken-down horse.
3. It was first recorded in 1650–60 and of uncertain origin.
4. The origin is unclear, but it is often taken as a euphemism for a crock of shit.