crop

American  

[krop] / krɒp /

noun

• crops
  plural

1. the cultivated produce of the ground, while growing or when gathered.

   the wheat crop.

2. the yield of such produce for a particular season.

3. the yield of some other product in a season.

   the crop of diamonds.

4. a supply produced.

5. a collection or group of persons or things appearing or occurring together.

   this year's crop of students.

6. the stock or handle of a whip.

7. Also called riding crop. a short riding whip consisting of a stock without a lash.

8. Also called craw. Zoology.

   1. a pouch in the esophagus of many birds, in which food is held for later digestion or for regurgitation to nestlings.

   2. a chamber or pouch in the foregut of arthropods and annelids for holding and partly crushing food.

9. the act of cropping.

10. a mark produced by clipping the ears, as of cattle.

11. a close-cropped hairstyle.

12. a head of hair so cut.

13. an entire tanned hide of an animal.

14. Mining. an outcrop of a vein or seam.

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verb (used with object)

• crops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cropped,
  past participle,  past
• cropt,
  past participle,  past (Archaic)
• cropping
  present participle

1. to cut off or remove the head or top of (a plant, grass, etc.).

2. to cut off the ends or a part of.

   to crop the ears of a dog.

3. to cut short.

   cropped t-shirts.

4. to clip the ears, hair, etc., of.

5. Photography. to cut off or mask the unwanted parts of (a print or negative).

6. to cause to bear a crop or crops.

7. to graze off (the tops of plants, grass, etc.).

   The sheep cropped the lawn.

verb (used without object)

• crops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cropped,
  past participle,  past
• cropt,
  past participle,  past (Archaic)
• cropping
  present participle

1. to bear or yield a crop or crops.

2. to feed by cropping or grazing.

adjective

1. (of women’s casual garments) shorter than is usual.

   a crop top that bares your midriff;

   crop pants that end at mid-calf.

verb phrase

1. crop up to appear, especially suddenly or unexpectedly.

   A new problem cropped up.

2. crop out

   1. Geology, Mining. to rise to the surface of the ground.

      Veins of quartz crop out in the canyon walls.

   2. to become evident or visible; occur.

      A few cases of smallpox still crop out every now and then.

crop British  

/ krɒp /

noun

1. the produce of cultivated plants, esp cereals, vegetables, and fruit

2. 1. the amount of such produce in any particular season

   2. the yield of some other farm produce

      the lamb crop

3. a group of products, thoughts, people, etc, appearing at one time or in one season

   a crop of new publications

4. the stock of a thonged whip

5. short for riding crop

6. 1. a pouchlike expanded part of the oesophagus of birds, in which food is stored or partially digested before passing on to the gizzard

   2. a similar structure in insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates

7. the entire tanned hide of an animal

8. a short cropped hairstyle See also Eton crop

9. a notch in or a piece cut out of the ear of an animal

10. the act of cropping

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verb

1. to cut (hair, grass, etc) very short

2. to cut and collect (mature produce) from the land or plant on which it has been grown

3. to clip part of (the ear or ears) of (an animal), esp as a means of identification

4. (also intr) to cause (land) to bear or (of land) to bear or yield a crop

   the land cropped well

5. (of herbivorous animals) to graze on (grass or similar vegetation)

6. photog to cut off or mask unwanted edges or areas of (a negative or print)

crop Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing crop

• cream of the crop

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Synonym Usage

Crop, harvest, produce, yield refer to the return in food obtained from land at the end of a season of growth. Crop, the term common in agricultural and commercial use, denotes the amount produced at one cutting or for one particular season: the potato crop. Harvest denotes either the time of reaping and gathering, or the gathering, or that which is gathered: the season of harvest; to work in a harvest; a ripe harvest. Produce especially denotes household vegetables: Produce from the fields and gardens was taken to market. Yield emphasizes what is given by the land in return for expenditure of time and labor: There was a heavy yield of grain this year.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cropless
  adjective
• noncrop
  adjective
• uncropped
  adjective
• well-cropped
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• crops
  plural

Participles

• cropping
  present
• cropped
  past
• cropt
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• crop
  simple
• crops
  simple
• have cropped
  perfect
• have cropt
  perfect
• has cropped
  perfect
• has cropt
  perfect
• am cropping
  progressive
• are cropping
  progressive
• is cropping
  progressive
• have been cropping
  perfect progressive
• has been cropping
  perfect progressive

Past

• cropped
  simple
• cropt
  simple
• had cropped
  perfect
• had cropt
  perfect
• was cropping
  progressive
• were cropping
  progressive
• had been cropping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will crop
  simple
• will have cropped
  perfect
• will have cropt
  perfect
• will be cropping
  progressive
• will have been cropping
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of crop

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English crop, cropp “sprout, ear of wheat (or other grain), paunch, crown of a tree”; cognate with German Kropf; see croup ²

Explanation

A crop is a large amount of one kind of fruit or vegetable that's grown on a farm. Your farmer uncle's corn crop might be especially large after a summer with plenty of rain. A major crop in parts of Asia is rice, while the coffee bean crop is important to the economics of several African and South American countries. A different kind of crop is the short whip that some riders use on horses — and when you crop something, you cut it short. You might decide to crop your hair at the beginning of the summer each year. The noun came first, originally defined as "the top of a sprout or herb."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crop crops cropped cropt cropping

The cream of the culinary crop, looking ahead to unpredictable ingredient availability, quality and prices, are rearranging their shelves accordingly.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

This has hardly been the first sign of bad stock-market breadth to crop up over the past few weeks.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

Despite being eight years "out of the Bake Off tent" and "part of the vintage crop of bakers", Williams said she is still a massive fan of the show.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Standing on the sidelines, the 25-year-old girlfriend of head coach Bill Belichick wore a Carolina jersey that had been fashioned into a crop top and a bedazzled football purse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

With the crop in, we work building a cabin.

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

If the strategy proves effective, beneficial fungi could help astronauts produce larger and more reliable crops on the Moon and Mars while reducing dependence on food transported from Earth.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

The cost of crops and vegetable oils is already climbing because of more expensive inputs like diesel and fertilizer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

In interviews, commissioners lauded California’s enforcement system, saying they think it’s important to have discretion when applying regulations because crops, growing seasons and pesticide use vary from county to county.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

September's full Moon is traditionally associated with the harvest, because historically, the additional moonlight after sunset was useful to farmers gathering crops.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

They also discussed the harm rodents do to crops and food supplies and the rapidity with which they multiply.’”

From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary

That sentiment cropped up repeatedly in interviews, too: Early guests seemed to believe the museum’s brochure, which notes that the galleries are about the “narrative art” of illustrating stories.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Soon, businesses cropped up around the bay to serve young Americans flush with cash and a need for distraction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

"I think we just cropped it a little bit on the sides," he said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

The image was cropped, enhanced to improve contrast, and corrected to remove lens artifacts.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026

His lips are red, and his orange-red beard is neat, closely cropped.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

In which they gather'd flowers to fill their flasket, And with fine fingers cropt full feateously The tender stalks on high.

From The Golden Treasury Selected from the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language and arranged with Notes by Various

Lovelass, speaking of Morecraft, the usurer, says: 'He had a bastard, his own toward issue, whipt and thin cropt, for washing out the rose in three farthings to make them pence.'

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various

Iason: a cropt, and rather dirty copy: which formerly belonged to Gulstone.

From A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three by Thomas Frognall Dibdin

"Tis now the summer of your youth; time has not cropt the roses from your cheek, though sorrow long has washed them."

From Faith and Unfaith by Duchess

A cruelly cropt copy, with a suspiciously ornamented title page.

From A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three by Thomas Frognall Dibdin

Series eight's youngest contestant, Naya Thorn, who was 23 when she was chosen for the show, feels there are new queens cropping up all over the UK.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

The problems cropping up in police reports and viral social-media posts range from the concerning to the comical.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

The process got more mechanized through the back half of the American Century—out with the cover cropping, in with the monocrop, packed tight as can be.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

Issues within the deal are already cropping up.

From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2026

She talked about finishing college and going to law school, but distractions kept cropping up.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Related Words

• output
• produce
• product
• yield