A dialectal or archaic term, possibly referring to a crook or bent object, or a regional variant of similar words.
Possibly related to 'crook' (a bent implement). The spelling suggests a dialectal or historical variant that may reflect phonetic pronunciation in specific regions.
Words like 'croiik' show how English spelling is just fossilized pronunciation—if you say 'crook' with certain accents and dialects, you might hear extra vowels that older writers tried to capture by adding letters.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.