Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small earthenware container, such as a pot or jar, for holding liquids.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An earthen pot or bottle; any small vessel for liquids.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A cup or dish.
  • noun A bottle for holding water, oil, honey, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small jar used to hold liquid, such as oil or water.
  • noun heraldry An oil lamp or similar emblem.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small jar; holds liquid (oil or water)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English crouse, perhaps from Middle Dutch cruyse, pot.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English crouse, from Old English crūse ("jar, cruse"), from Proto-Germanic *krūsōn, *krūsaz (“jar, pot, collar, jug”). Cognate with German Krause ("pot with a lid"), Icelandic krús ("jar, jug"). Merged with Middle English croo ("pot, pitcher"), from Old English crōg ("crock, pitcher, vessel"). More at crock.

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Examples

Comments

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  • I never heard this word before in my life. See its usage in a specific phrase on widow's cruse.

    March 6, 2008