crop

noun \ ˈkräp \

Updated on: 22 Apr 2018

Definition of crop

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

[²crop]

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.

See crop defined for English-language learners

See crop defined for kids

Examples of crop in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of crop from the Web

Presently there are 7,000 acres of date palms producing one of the most expensive, time-consuming crops in America.

— james fallows, The Atlantic, "The Other Coachella: What You Won't See at the Music Festival," 15 Apr. 2018
The Pacific state of Kiribati bought some 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) of forest land on Fiji in 2014, to be used for growing crops, or to provide a refuge if seas rise to levels that would hamper human habitation.

— paul takahashi, Houston Chronicle, "Seafood restaurants squeezed by climate change, growing appetites," 6 Apr. 2018
By choosing to target the crop, Beijing is putting economic pressure on rural agricultural areas that strongly supported Donald Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign.

— laurent belsie, The Christian Science Monitor, "In US-China trade spat, soybeans symbolize two economies intertwined," 5 Apr. 2018
Strictly row crops of cotton, cantaloupe and wheat.

— bud shaw, cleveland.com, "Wyoming QB Josh Allen is a small town guy with a big-time arm -- Bud Shaw," 2 Apr. 2018
Now, specialty crops, even ones with teeny tiny markets, are suddenly worth developing.

— megan molteni, WIRED, "Crispr’d Food, Coming Soon to a Supermarket Near You," 30 Mar. 2018
California farms produce 400 specialty crops, which include two-thirds of the country's fruits and nuts and one-third of its vegetables.

— joyce strand, Ramona Sentinel, "Farming highlighted during Indivisible forum," 23 Mar. 2018
Even so, Bradford is still the cream of the 2010 crop, winning more games than the rest of his draft class combined.

— chris chase, For The Win, "The 5 worst quarterback drafts in NFL history," 21 Mar. 2018
The Bay State’s top agricultural food crop — valued at close to $70 million in 2016, according to the most recent government data — could now face a 25 percent tariff on exports to Europe.

— matt viser, BostonGlobe.com, "Trump tariffs could backfire on Mass. cranberry growers," 21 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crop.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.