cropping

noun

1. a saclike enlargement of a bird's gullet or of a part of the digestive tract of earthworms and some insects, in which food is stored before digestion; craw
2. any agricultural product, growing or harvested, or collected, as wheat, cotton, fruit, honey, etc.
3. the yield of any product in one season or place
4. a group or collection appearing together: a new crop of students
5. the entire tanned hide of an animal
6. the handle or butt of a whip
7. a stick with a handle at one end and a thong or tab at the other, used to direct a horse in horseback riding

8. Origin: < the v.

   the act or result of cropping, esp.
   1. hair cut close to the head
   2. this style of haircut
   3. an earmark on an animal, made by clipping

Origin: ME croppe < OE croppa, a cluster, flower, crop of bird, hence kidney, pebble; akin to Frank *kruppa, Ger kropf, a swelling, crop of bird (basic sense “something swelling out or swollen”) < IE *gr-eu-b-, curving out < base *ger-: see cradle

transitive verb cropped, cropping

1. to cut off or bite off the tops or ends of: sheep crop grass
2. to grow or harvest as a crop
3. to cause crops to grow on or in
4. to cut (hair, etc.) short
5. to cut short the ears, hair, etc. of

intransitive verb

1. to bear a crop or crops
2. ☆ to plant or grow a crop
3. to feed by cropping grass, etc.; graze