An earthenware pot or jar, typically used for storing food or liquids. Informally, something that is broken, worthless, or untrue.
From Old English 'crocc' meaning 'pot, vessel,' from Proto-Germanic origins. The informal meaning of 'something worthless or false' developed from the idea of a broken pot being useless, emerging in American slang in the early 20th century.
The humble crock was essential to daily life before refrigeration, used for fermenting foods, storing preserves, and keeping things cool in root cellars - these ceramic vessels were literally life-sustaining technology. The slang meaning shows how broken household items become metaphors for anything considered worthless or deceptive.
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