Chapter Crack-brained to Credat Judæus of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Crampart (King). The king who made a wooden horse which would travel 100 miles an hour. (Alkmaar: Reynard the Fox, 1498.)
   Swifter than Crampart's horse. Quick as lightning; quick as thought. (See above.)

Cramp-ring To scour the crampring. To be put into fetters; to be imprisoned. The allusion is obvious.

"There's no muckle hazard o' scouring the cramp-ring." - Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. xxiii.

Crane means long-shanks. (Welsh, gar, "the shanks," whence our gaiter and garter.) Garan is the long-shanked bird, contracted into g'ran, crane; heron is another form of the same word.

Crank An Abram man (q.v.). So called from the German krank (sickly), whence cranky, "idiotic, foolish, full of whims," and cranks (simulated sickness). These beggars were called cranks because they pretended madness and sickness to excite compassion.

Crannock An Irish measure which, in the days of Edward II., contained either eight or sixteen pecks.

"Crannocus continebit xvj pecks. Crannoco continente octo pecks." - Exchequer of Ireland (Rec.).

Crapaud or Johnny Crapaud. A Frenchman; so called from the device of the ancient kings of France, "three toads erect, saltant." (Guillim's Display of Heraldrie, 1611.) Nostradamus, in the sixteenth century, called the French "crapauds."
   Les anciens crapauds prenderont Sara (Nostradamus). Sara is the word Aras reversed, and when the French under Louis XIV. took Aras from the Spaniards, this verse was quoted as a prophecy.

Crape ... Lawn A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn. (Pope: Ep. to Cobham, 136.) Crape (a sort of bombazine, or alpaca) is the stuff of which cheap clerical gowns used to be made, and here means one of the lower clergy; "lawn" refers to the lawn sleeves of a bishop, and here means a prelate. A good curate is all very well, but the same goodness in a bishop is exalted as something noteworthy.

Cravat' A corruption of Crabat or Croät. It was introduced into France by some French officers on their return from Germany in 1636. The Croäts, who guarded the Turkish frontiers of Austria, and acted as scouts on the flanks of the army, wore linen round their necks, tied in front, and the officers wore muslin or silk. When France organised a regiment on the model of the Croäts, these linen neckcloths were imitated, and the regiment was called "The Royal Cravat."
   The Bonny Cravat. A public-house sign at Woodchurch, Kent; a corruption of La bonne corvette. Woodchurch was noted for its smuggling proclivities, and the "Bonnie Cravat" was a smuggler's hostelry.
   To wear a hempen cravat. To be hanged.

Craven means "your mercy is craved." It was usual in former times to decide controversies by an appeal to battle. The combatants fought with bâtons, and if the accused could either kill his adversary or maintain the fight till sundown, he was acquitted. If he wished to call off, he cried out "Craven!" and was held infamous, while the defendant was advanced to honour. (Blackstone.)

Crawley Crooked as Crawley (or) Crawley brook, a river in Bedfordshire. That part called the brook, which runs into the Ouse, is so crooked that a boat would have to go eighty miles in order to make a progress direct of eighteen.(Fuller: Worthies.)

Crayon (Geoffrey). The nom de plume under which Washington Irving published The Sketch-Book. (1820.)

Creaking Doors hang the Longest "Un pot fêlé dure plus qu'un neuf." "Tout se qui branle ne chet pas" (tumbles not). Delicate persons often outlive the more robust. Those who have some personal affliction, like the gout, often live longer than those who have no such vent.

Create. Make
God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. i.1.) (Hebrew, carah: Greek.) God made the firmament ... (Gen. i.7.) (Greek). God made the sun and moon ... (Gen. i.16.) God created the great fishes ... (Gen. i 21.) God made the terrestrial animals ... (Gen. i.25.) God created man and made him "God- like" ... (Gen. i.27.)    God said "Let us make man in our own image" (verse 26), and