Crabbedness

Quality of being crabbed; rough--An ne ; harshne ; sourne ; peevishne ; asperity, difficulty; perplexity; as, crabbedne of disposition. "With squibs and crackers arm'd to throw Among the trembling crowd below."- Swift . idle boaster; a loud, swaggering fellow. "What cracker is this same, that deafs our ears With this abundance of superfluous breath?"-Shaks. IMG:content-0405.png:[blocks in formation] That crackles underneath them." - Dryden. Crackling, n. The making of small, abrupt cracks or reports, frequently repeated; as, the crackling of twigs. -The rind of roasted pork. -( pl.) A kind of oil-cake, used as food for dogs. Crack'nel, n. [Fr. craquelin.] A hard, brittle cake or biscuit. "His kids, his cracknels, and his early fruit." - Spenser. Crack/-rope, n. Same as CRACK-HEMP, q. v. Crack'-skull, n. A crazy or heedle fellow. Cracks'man, n. A burglar. (Eng. slang.) Cracovian, n. (Geog.) A native or inhabitant of Cracow. -a. Relating, or pertaining, to Cracow. Cracovienne, ( kra - kō've -yan,) n. (Dancing.) The national dance of the Polish peasantry around Cracow. It has rather a melancholy than lively melody, in time, and is accompanied by singing. Cracow. ( kra'ko ,) a city of Central Europe, previously to the 17th century the metropolis of the kingdom of Poland; now comprised in the Austrian empire. It is Fig . 708. ANCIENT CATHEDRAL OF CRACOW. situate on the N. bank of the Vistula, where it is joined by the Rudawa, 160 m. S.S.W. of Warsaw, and 200 m. N.E. of Vienna. It has every appearance of falling rapidly to decay. The streets are crooked, the pavements wretched, and the houses, though ma ive and spacious, are old, and, in many cases, in a state of dilapidation. In its cathedral are the tombs of the most distinguished Polish kings, and the crown jewels were formerly deposited in it. Besides the cathedral, there is a castle, a university, a botanical garden, an observatory, and a library. It is connected by railway with Vienna, Berlin and Warsaw. P. (1891) 76,026.-A tumulus to the memory of Kosciusko, with a height of 120 feet, stands at about 2 miles from the city. The republic of CRAcow, of which the above city was the capital, embraced an area of 450 sq. m., with a population of abt. 142,000. After an insurrection, in 1846, it was incorporated with Austria. Cra'cowes, n. pl. A kind of boots with long toes, for merly worn in N. Europe, and first made at Cracow; whence the name. Cradle, ( krā'dl ,) n. [A. S. cradel , dim. of cræt , a cart, a chariot; Gael. creathall : allied to Lat. craticula , dim. of crates , wicker or hurdle work.] A movable bed in which infants are rocked. It is perhaps not a little Fig. 709.- CRADLE OF HENRY V. (Tower of London.) curious to contrast the magnificently artistic cradles exhibited in any modern furniture-store, with the cradle of a prince in the 14th century, represented in Fig . 709. It was made for the use of Henry Prince of Wales, afterwards king Henry V. "To rock the cradle of reposing age." Pope . lake. Surface level, and the soil generally fertile. Cap. Jones borough. Craig's Creek, in Virginia , rises in Giles and Montgomery cos., and enters the James River in Botetourt co. Craig's Mills, in Virginia , a P. O. of Washington co. Craigs ville, in N. Carolina , a village of Gaston co. was the cradle of the arts. "Trained even from their cradles in arms and military exercises." Spenser. ( Ship - building .) A frame placed under the bottom of a ship, in order to conduct her steadily into the water when she is to be launched, at which time it supports her weight while she slides down the descent or sloping pa age called the ways , which are for this purpose daubed with soap or tallow. (Agric.) A scythe with a frame to receive the grain when it is mowed. (Surg.) A semicircle of thin wood, used for preventing the contact of the bed-clothes in wounds, fractures, . IMG:content-0406.png:[blocks in formation] Craigsville, in Pennsylvania , a village of West more land co., about 50 m. E. of Pittsburg. Craigsville, in S. Carolina , a P. O. of Lancaster dist. Craigsville, in Virginia , a post-village of August a co., about 23 m. W.S.W. of Staunton. Crail, an ancient royal burgh, and sea-port of Scotland, in Fifes hire, on the North Sea, 9 m. S.E. of St. Andrew's. It was formerly a place of importance, but is now much decayed. A considerable fishing-trade is still carried on. Pop . 2,127. Crail, n. See CREEL. Crain's Creek, in N. Carolina , a P. O. of Moore co. Crake, n. ( Zool .) The Corn-crake, or Land-rail (Crez pratensis), family Rallide , is very similar to the Water rail, is fond of woody places, and high herbage or cornfields in the vicinity of water, or marshy places, where it breeds; making its nest of a few dry plants, put carele ly together, and laying ten or twelve eggs of a dull white, marked with rust-color spots. Its note (crekcrek-crek), rapidly repeated, has been compared to the noise made by drawing a finger along the teeth of a comb. It is a bird of Europe, accidental in the U. S. Crake-berry, n. ( Bot . ) See EMPETRUM.