Part 671

Crook"back`, a. Hunched. Shak.

Crook"bill` ( -b?l`), n. (Zo÷l) A New Zealand plover (Anarhynchus frontalis), remarkable for having the end of the beak abruptly bent to the right.

Crook"ed (kr??k"?d), a. 1. Characterized by a crook or curve; not straight; turning; bent; twisted; deformed. "Crooked paths." Locke.

he is deformed, crooked, old, and sere. Shak.

2. Not straightforward; deviating from rectitude; distorted from the right.

They are a perverse and crooked generation. Deut. xxxii. 5.

3. False; dishonest; fraudulent; as, crooked dealings.

Crooked whisky, whisky on which the payment of duty has been fraudulently evaded. [Slang, U.S.] Barlett.

Crook"ed*ly, adv. In a curved or crooked manner; in a perverse or untoward manner.

Crook"ed*ness, n. The condition or quality of being crooked; hence, deformity of body or of mind; deviation from moral rectitude; perverseness.

Crook"en (kr??k"'n), v. t. To make crooked. [Obs.]

Crookes" tube` (kr??ks" t?b`). (Phys.) A vacuum tube in which the exhaustion is carried to a very high degree, with the production of a distinct class of effects; -- so called from W. Crookes who introduced it.

Croon (kr&oomac;n), v. i. [OE. croinen, cf. D. kreunen to moan. √24.] 1. To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain. [Scot.] Jamieson.

2. To hum or sing in a low tone; to murmur softly.

Here an old grandmother was crooning over a sick child, and rocking it to and fro. Dickens.

Croon, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crooned (kr&oomac;nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Crooning.] 1. To sing in a low tone, as if to one's self; to hum.

Hearing such stanzas crooned in her praise. C. BrontÚ.

2. To soothe by singing softly.

The fragment of the childish hymn with which he sung and crooned himself asleep. Dickens.

Croon, n. 1. A low, continued moan; a murmur.

2. A low singing; a plain, artless melody.

Crop (kr&obreve;p), n. [OE. crop, croppe, craw, top of a plant, harvest, AS. crop, cropp, craw, top, bunch, ear of corn; akin to D. krop craw, G. kropf, Icel. kroppr hump or bunch on the body, body; but cf. also W. cropa, croppa, crop or craw of a bird, Ir. & Gael. sgroban. Cf. Croup, Crupper, Croup.] 1. The pouchlike enlargement of the gullet of birds, serving as a receptacle for food; the craw.

2. The top, end, or highest part of anything, especially of a plant or tree. [Obs.] "Crop and root." Chaucer.

3. That which is cropped, cut, or gathered from a single felld, or of a single kind of grain or fruit, or in a single season; especially, the product of what is planted in the earth; fruit; harvest.

Lab'ring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop, Corn, wine, and oil. Milton.

4. Grain or other product of the field while standing.

5. Anything cut off or gathered.

Guiltless of steel, and from the razor free, It falls a plenteous crop reserved for thee. Dryden.