Other forms: crops, cropped, cropping
A crop is a plant grown in bulk to be harvested — a field of wheat, rows of potatoes, coffee on a hillside. It is also the haul itself: the crop failed, the crop came in early this year.
The verb side is all about cutting short. You crop a photograph by trimming its edges until only the part you want is left; you crop your hair; sheep crop the grass down to nothing. A riding crop is a short stiff whip, cut short in the same sense. Crop up is the phrasal verb to learn: problems crop up, meaning they appear without being invited. And a crop of anything is a batch that arrived together — this year's crop of graduates, a fresh crop of complaints.
1noungrownA plant grown in large amounts to be harvested.
“Wheat is still the main crop on that side of the valley.”
2noungatheredThe amount of a plant gathered in one season.
“The crop was poor after three weeks of rain.”
3nounbatchA batch of people or things that appear at the same time.
“This year's crop of graduates is the largest the college has had.”
4verbcropTo cut the edges off a picture.
“Crop the photo so the bins are out of the shot.”
5verbhairTo cut something short, especially hair or grass.
“He had his hair cropped before the interview.”
6nounstiffA short stiff whip used in riding.
“She tucked the crop under her arm and led the horse out.”
Old English cropp meant the top of a plant — an ear of corn, a head of flowers — and also the craw, the pouch in a bird's throat. Behind it stands Proto-Germanic kruppaz, body or trunk, which makes crop a doublet of group: one old word that reached English twice by different roads. The farming sense is the plant's head, cut off; the trimming sense followed the knife.
Proto-Indo-European
*grewb- — to warp, bend, crawl
Proto-Germanic
*kruppaz — body, trunk, crop
Proto-West Germanic
*kropp
Old English
cropp
Middle English
crop
English, today
crop
Built from
From Middle English crop, croppe, from Old English cropp, croppa (“the head or top of a plant, a sprout or herb, a bunch or cluster of flowers, an ear of corn, the craw of a bird, a kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic kropp, from Proto-Germanic kruppaz (“body, trunk, crop”), from Proto-Indo-European grewb- (“to warp, bend, crawl”). a doublet of group. 2 Cognate with Dutch krop (“crop”), German Low German Kropp (“a swelling on the neck, the craw, maw”), German Kropf (“the craw, ear of grain, head of lettuce or cabbage”), Danish -, Norwegian -, and Swedish kropp (“body, trunk”), Faroese - and Icelandic kroppur (“body”). Related to crap. a doublet of group and croup.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA