crop

1 of 2

noun

1
: a pouched enlargement of the esophagus of many birds that serves as a receptacle for food and for its preliminary maceration
also : an enlargement of the digestive tract of another animal (such as an insect)
2
a(1)
: a plant or animal or plant or animal product that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence
an apple crop
a crop of wool
(2)
: the total yearly production from a specified area
b
: the product or yield of something formed together
the ice crop
c
: a batch or lot of something produced during a particular cycle
the current crop of films
d
: collection
a crop of lies
3
: the stock or handle of a whip
also : a riding whip with a short straight stock and a loop
4
a
: the part of the chine of a quadruped (such as a domestic cow) lying immediately behind the withers
usually used in plural
see cow illustration
b
: an earmark on an animal
especially : one made by a straight cut squarely removing the upper part of the ear
c
: a close cut of the hair
He has a thick crop of hair.

crop

2 of 2

verb

cropped; cropping

transitive verb

1
a
: to remove the upper or outer parts of
crop a hedge
crop a dog's ears
b
: harvest
crop trout
c
: to cut off short : trim
crop a photograph
2
: to cause (land) to bear a crop
planned to crop another 40 acres
also : to grow as a crop

intransitive verb

1
: to feed by cropping something
2
: to yield or make a crop
3
: to appear unexpectedly or casually
Problems crop up daily.

Examples of crop in a Sentence

Noun Tobacco is their main crop. They sprayed the crops with a pesticide. The teachers got ready for a new crop of students. a new crop of horror movies Verb The picture was cropped badly. We had to crop the image to fit it into the frame. Her hair was cropped short.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The state exports the majority of the crop and the tree nuts have become a staple of many pantries and fridges — and not just in trail mix. Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2024 But honestly, given the bounty of this year’s Oscars crop? David Fear, Rolling Stone, 4 Mar. 2024 Many of her most memorable looks have been worn on the Met Gala carpet: Zendaya’s auburn Joan of Arc crop in 2018? Christine Werthman, Billboard, 1 Mar. 2024 As more extreme weather threatens the country’s rice crops, farmers are collaborating with the national rice research center to increase climate resilience and cultivation of diverse varieties. Cameron Pugh, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Feb. 2024 The potato crop is also suffering because potatoes require lower levels of salts to flourish than what the canals are currently delivering. The Arizona Republic, 27 Feb. 2024 The end result: a bowl of rice that has 8 percent more protein than a normal serving and produces the same amount of carbon emissions as the grain crop, a staple food for about half of the world’s population. Kelly Kasulis Cho, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2024 While two of Cleveland’s most important players continue their rehabs, Browns officials, who, for the third year in a row have no first-round draft pick, thanks to the Watson trade, will assess this year’s crop at the combine. Jim Ingraham, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024 Both of my degrees are from Ohio State, one in floriculture (greenhouses) and my Masters in ornamental horticulture (nursery crops). Neil Sperry, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Feb. 2024
Verb
In video footage, Navalny — clad in a black prison uniform — appeared even more frail than in other recent appearances, with hair cropped close and eyes blazing out of a gaunt face. Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2024 Even the photos that the frame has had to crop or adjust (in situations where the orientation of the images doesn't match the orientation of the frame) have displayed quite clear and filled the frame. Maddie Michalik, Travel + Leisure, 25 Jan. 2024 Her designs for this show were equally eclectic: leather coats, both long and cropped, hoodies under long wool coats, and gowns worn over trousers. Joanne Shurvell, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024 In 1962, Air France worked with Christian Dior's then artistic director Marc Bohan to create a modern uniform featuring pillbox hats and cropped jackets with Claudine collars. Caitlin Gunther, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Feb. 2024 There were a lot of toned, cropped moments that just served the look…. Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 2 Feb. 2024 The puppy's ears had been cropped, supposedly by a veterinarian, and had stitches, Randazzo said. Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press, 25 Jan. 2024 Visible watermarks can be easily cropped or edited out. Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 15 Jan. 2024 They’re cropped to the ankle with raw edges to complete the mood—and offer endless shoe styling possibilities. Paula Lee, Glamour, 9 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crop.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

(senses 1-3) Middle English crop, crope, croppe "crop of a bird, portion of an herb above the root, sprig, bud, crown of a tree, harvest of a plant, tip or top of something," going back to Old English crop "crop of a bird, sprout, shoot, bunch or cluster (of fruit, seeds), umbel (also croppa, weak noun, only in sense "bunch, cluster"), going back to Germanic *kruppa- "something rounded, bulge," (whence also Old Saxon kripp "crop of a bird," Middle Dutch crop "gnarl, goiter, gullet, body, corpse, blister, bud," Old High German kropf "protuberance, goiter, crop of a bird," Old Icelandic kroppr "swelling on the body, crop of a bird" [Icelandic & Faroese kroppur "body"]), of expressive origin; (sense 4) derivatives of crop entry 2

Note: The Old English n-stem croppa is matched by Old High German kropfo "crop of a bird, bulbous onion." Old Icelandic krov "slaughtered animal with the entrails removed" points to an original paradigm *kruƀan- : *kruƀn-, with the latter resulting in *kruppa- by loss of the nasal, devoicing, and gemination (Kluge's Law). The early meaning of the etymon and its later semantic bifurcations are difficult to reconstruct with certainty. An original sense "something rounded, bulge, swelling" may have led, on the one hand, to "cavity in a slaughtered animal after the entrails are removed" and hence "body, corpse" (meanings in North Germanic and Middle Dutch), and on the other to "swelling in the throat, crop of a bird, goiter." The sense "sprout, bud" in West Germanic is a further specification of "swelling." The later development in English is not paralleled in the other languages. The sense "sprout, sprig" seems to have been generalized to "structures terminating a plant, as fruit, seeds, umbels" and then, on the one hand, to "upper part, tip or end of an object" (such as the stock of a whip) and, on the other hand, to "harvested fruit of a plant, yield of such harvested products in a season." Compare croup entry 1, group entry 1. See R. Lühr, Expressivität und Lautgesetz im Germanischen, Heidelberg, 1988, p. 235; R. Lühr et al., Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Band 5 [2014], columns 816-18; G. Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, 2013, p. 307.

Verb

Middle English croppen "to prune, trim, cut branches from (a bush or tree), derivative of crop, crope, croppe "sprig, bud, crown of a tree, tip or top of something" — more at crop entry 1

Note: The phrasal verb crop up is dependent on a geological sense of crop, "(of rock strata) to appear at the surface," a coal miners' term in the West Midlands in the seventeenth century, which is apparently a development of the noun sense "tip, end" ("to show itself at the exposed end"). Compare outcrop entry 1.

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of crop was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near crop

Cite this Entry

“Crop.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crop. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

crop

1 of 2 noun
1
a
: the handle of a whip
b
: a short riding whip
2
: an enlargement of the gullet of a bird or insect that forms a pouch to receive food and prepare it for digestion
3
a
: a plant or animal or plant or animal product that can be grown and harvested
b
: the product or yield especially of a harvested crop
c
: batch sense 2, lot
a new crop of kindergartners

crop

2 of 2 verb
cropped; cropping
1
a
: to remove the upper or outer parts of
crop a hedge
crop a dog's ears
b
: to cut off short : clip
crop a photograph
2
a
: to cause land to bear a crop
b
: to grow as a crop
crop cotton
3
: to produce or make a crop
the apple trees cropped well
4
: to come or appear when not expected
problems crop up daily

Medical Definition

crop

noun
: a pouched enlargement of the gullet of many birds that serves as a receptacle for food and for its preliminary maceration

More from Merriam-Webster on crop

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