Also 4 krone, 6 croen, 6–7 croane, 7 chrone. [In the sense ‘old ewe’ the word appears to be related to early mod.Du. kronje, karonje, ‘adasia, ouis vetula, rejecula’ (Kilian), believed to be the same word as karonje, kronje, MDu. caroonje, croonje carcass, a. NFr. carogne carcass: see CARRION. As applied to a woman, it may be an Eng. transferred application of ‘old ewe’ (though the evidence for the latter does not yet carry it back so early); but it was more probably taken directly from ONF. carogne (Picard carone, Walloon coronie) ‘a cantankerous or mischievous woman,’ cited by Littré from 14th c. App. rare in the 18th c., till revived by Southey, Scott, and their contemporaries.]
1. A withered old woman.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 334. This olde Sowdones, þis cursed crone [v.r. krone].
1572. Gascoigne, Flowers, Divorce Lover. That croked croane.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., II. x. Not long the croen can liue.
1621–51. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. ii. VI. v. (1676), 372. She that was erst a maid as fresh as May, Is now an old Crone.
1640. Brathwait, Boulster Lect., 151. This decrepit chrone.
1733. Pope, Ep. Cobham, 242. The frugal Crone, whom praying priests attend.
1795. Southey, Vis. Maid of Orleans, III. 28. There stood an aged crone.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 258. An ancient crone at war with her whole kind.
1873. W. Black, Pr. Thule, iv. 57. Some old crone hobbling along the pavement.
b. Rarely applied to a worn-out old man.
In quot. 1844 = ‘old woman,’ applied contemptuously.
1630. Brathwait, Eng. Gentlem., 457. A miserable crone, who spares when reputation bids him spend.
1822. W. Irving, Braceb. Hall (1849), 391. The old crone lived in a hovel … which his master had given him on setting him free.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, II. i. The Tory party … was held to be literally defunct, except by a few old battered crones of office.
2. An old ewe; a sheep whose teeth are broken off. Also crone sheep.
1552. Huloet, Crone or kebber sheape, not able to be holden or kepte forth, adaria, adasia.
a. 1577. Gascoigne, Dulce Bellum inexp., Wks. (1587), 127. The sheepmaster his olde cast croanes can cull.
1674. Ray, S. & E. C. Words, 63. Crones, old Ewes.
1767. A. Young, Farmer’s Lett. People, 217. Fifteen old crones sold fat, with their lambs.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric. (1807), II. 678. The crones are … constantly sold at four or five years old.
1854. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XV. II. 344. In many districts, as on the heath lands of Norfolk, it often happens that … the centrally-placed teeth are broken across their bodies, by the rough plants on which the sheep graze. Such animals are called ‘crones.’
