| 释义 |
▪ I. crone, n.|krəʊn|
Also 4 krone, 6 croen, 6–7 croane, 7 chrone.
[In the sense ‘old ewe’ the word appears to be related to early mod.Du. kronje, karonje, ‘adasia, ouis vetula, rejecula’ (Kilian), believed to be the same word as karonje, kronje, MDu. caroonje, croonje carcass, a. NFr. carogne carcass: see carrion. As applied to a woman, it may be an Eng. transferred application of ‘old ewe’ (though the evidence for the latter does not yet carry it back so early); but it was more probably taken directly from ONF. carogne (Picard carone, Walloon coronie) ‘a cantankerous or mischievous woman’, cited by Littré from 14th c. App. rare in the 18th c., till revived by Southey, Scott, and their contemporaries.]
1. A withered old woman.
c1386Chaucer Man of Law's T. 334 This olde Sowdones, þis cursed crone [v.r. krone]. 1572Gascoigne Flowers, Divorce Lover, That croked croane. 1586Warner Alb. Eng. ii. x, Not long the croen can liue. 1621–51Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. vi. v. (1676) 372 She that was erst a maid as fresh as May, Is now an old Crone. 1640R. Brathwait Boulster Lect. 151 This decrepit chrone. 1733Pope Ep. Cobham 242 The frugal Crone, whom praying priests attend. 1795Southey Vis. Maid of Orleans iii. 28 There stood an aged crone. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 258 An ancient crone at war with her whole kind. 1873W. Black Pr. Thule iv. 57 Some old crone hobbling along the pavement.
b. Rarely applied to a worn-out old man.
In quot. 1844 = ‘old woman’, applied contemptuously.
1630R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. 457 A miserable crone, who spares when reputation bids him spend. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall (1849) 391 The old crone lived in a hovel..which his master had given him on setting him free. 1844Disraeli Coningsby ii. i, The Tory party..was held to be literally defunct, except by a few old battered crones of office.
2. An old ewe; a sheep whose teeth are broken off. Also crone sheep.
1552Huloet, Crone or kebber sheape, not able to be holden or kepte forth, adaria, adasia. a1577Gascoigne Dulce bellum Wks. (1587) 127 The sheepmaster his olde cast croanes can cull. 1674Ray S. & E.C. Words 63 Crones, old Ewes. 1767A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 217 Fifteen old crones sold fat, with their lambs. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) II. 678 The crones are..constantly sold at four or five years old. 1854Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. ii. 344 In many districts, as on the heath lands of Norfolk, it often happens that..the centrally-placed teeth are broken across their bodies, by the rough plants on which the sheep graze. Such animals are called ‘crones’.
▪ II. † crone, v. Obs.
[f. the n.]
trans. To pick out and reject (the old sheep) from a flock. Also transf.
1461Marg. Paston in Paston Lett. No. 429. II. 74 It is time to crone your old officers. 1552Huloet, Crone out olde sheape, adarias pascere, uel reijcere, reieculas carpere. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 127 Now crone your sheepe, fat those ye keepe.
▪ III. crone, crone-berry
dial. var. of cranberry. [In Gerarde perh. from LG.]
1597Gerarde Herbal App. to Table, Croneberries, Vaccinia palustria. 1744Wilson Syn., Croan-berries. 1878Cumbrld. Gloss. (Central), Crones, cranberries.
▪ IV. crone
obs. f. crane, croon, crown n. and v. |