crop

/ˈkräp/

(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

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 plant or animal or plant or animal product that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence

  3. the total yearly production from a specified area

verb

  1. to remove the upper or outer parts of

  2. harvest

  3. to cut off short : trim

crop a hedge

crop trout

noun

  1. a geometric and especially a circular pattern of flattened stalks in a field of grain now usually attributed to natural phenomena or to the work of hoaxers trying to create the impression of a visit by extraterrestrial beings