Heading
1883. Graphic, March 24, p, 303, col. 1. He [the Oxford stroke] could also depend on his own men for not falling to pieces through being taken off at a cracker.
Crackey.—See Crikey.
Crack-Halter, or Crack-Rope,
subs. (old).—A vagabond; an old
equivalent of jail-bird. Cf.,
Hemp-seed.
1566. Gascoigne, Supposes, i., 4. You crackhalter, if I catch you by the ears, I'll make you answer directly.
1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe, IV., i. Featherstone's boy, like an honest crack-halter, laid open all to one of my prentices.
1639. Massinger, Unnatural Combat, II., ii. Peace, you crack-rope!
1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, ch. xxx. 'Hark ye, ye crack-rope padder, born-beggar, and hedge-thief,' replied the hag.
Crack-Hunter, or Haunter, subs.
(venery).—The penis. Cf., Crack,
subs., sense 4. For synonyms, see
Creamstick.
Cracking, verbal subs. (thieves').—House-breaking.
[From crack,
verb, sense 2.]
1862. Cornhill Mag., vol. VI., 651. We are going a-flimping, buzzing, cracking, tooling, etc.
Crackish, adj. (old).—Wanton,
said only of women. [From
crack, subs., sense 4.] Cf.,
Coming.
Crack-Jaw Words, Names, etc.,
subs. (colloquial).—Long words
difficult to pronounce. [From
crack, to break, + jaw, speech.]
Variants are half-crown
words, jaw-breakers, and
cramp words.
1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard's Daughter, ch. vii. 'He brings her plants with crackjaw names.'
1883. Daily Telegraph, June 25, p. 3, col. 1. 'Some of the ways with the crack-jaw names of cooking it would give it a foreign flavour to me.'
Crackle or Crackling, subs.
(University).—The velvet bars
on the gowns of the Johnian
'hogs' (q.v.). [From their resemblance
to the scored rind
on roast pork.] The covered
bridge between one of the courts
and the grounds of John's is
called the Isthmus of Suez (Latin
sus, a swine).
1885. Cuthbert Bede, in Notes and Queries. 6 S., xi., 414. The word crackle refers to the velvet bars on the students' gowns.
Crackmans or Cragmans, subs.
(old).—A hedge.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 57 (H. Club's Repr., 1874), s.v.
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874), s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. The cull thought to have loped, by breaking through the crackmans, but we fetched him back by a nope.
Crack or Break One's Egg, or
Duck, verbal phr. (cricket).—To
begin to score. [To make no run
is to 'lay, or make, a duck's egg';
to make none in either innings
is 'to get a double-duck,' or to
come off with a pair of spectacles.]
1890. Polytechnic Magazine, 5 June, p. 367, col. 2. Watson bowled splendidly, taking 8 wickets at a very small cost, two of his foemen being unable to crack their egg.
Crack-Pot, subs. (popular).—A
pretentious, worthless person.
For synonyms, see Swash-Buckler.
1883. Broadside Ballad, 'I'm Living with Mother now.' My aunty knew lots, and called them crack-pots.
Crack-Rope.—See Crack-halter.
