Crop is the harvest of a type plant, grouping its many varieties as a unit. But originally crop referred to a bird’s craw -- its stomach, where it stores food for its offspring. At the same time, crop was the top part of a plant: the part picked for use. That’s no longer true, but it explains how crop evolved into its current use. It also explains why Scottish English calls the top of a fishing rod a crop. Just as the crop was the useful part of a plant, it was once the tanned part of an animal’s hide-- and, by extension, a piece cut off anything. This sort of explains outcropping, which is anything that rises above
the surface. Today that crop is more common with digital pictures.
March 3, 2010
Word of the Day: crop
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