Sc. Also cruisie, -zie, -y, -ey, cruzie, croosie. [app. a phonetic repr. of F. creuset, CRUSET, or perh. of earlier origin from OF. croiseul, creuseul (pl. -eus), or croisel, cruseau, with which it agrees in its two senses, while F. creuset and Eng. CRUSET have only that of ‘crucible.’]
1. A small iron lamp with a handle, burning oil or tallow; also, a sort of triangular iron candlestick with one or more sockets for candles, having the edges turned up on the three sides. (Jamieson.)
a. 1774. Fergusson, Farmer’s Ingle. The cruizy, too, can only blink and bleer.
1776. C. Keith, Farmer’s Ha’, ix. (Jam.). Meg lights the crusy wi’ a match.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, Let. iv. A silver lamp, or cruisie, as the Scottish term it.
1892. Blackw. Mag., Oct., 487. The croosie, a triangular metal saucer with an upright hook at the base to be hung by.
2. A crucible, or hollow piece of iron with a long handle, used for melting metals. (Jamieson.)
The common sense in South of Scotland; crusies were commonly used by stocking-weavers in middle of the 19th c. to melt lead or pewter for setting the needles in their frames.
