Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pathological condition of the larynx, especially in infants and children, that is characterized by respiratory difficulty and a hoarse, brassy cough.
  • noun The rump of a beast of burden, especially a horse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name applied to a variety of diseases in which there is some interference at the glottis with respiration.
  • noun The rump or buttocks of certain animals, especially of a horse; hence, the place behind the saddle.
  • noun A hump or hunch on an animal's body.
  • To cry out; cry hoarsely; specifically, to cough hoarsely, as in croup.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) An inflammatory affection of the larynx or trachea, accompanied by a hoarse, ringing cough and stridulous, difficult breathing; esp., such an affection when associated with the development of a false membrane in the air passages (also called membranous croup). See False croup, under false, and diphtheria.
  • noun The hinder part or buttocks of certain quadrupeds, especially of a horse; hence, the place behind the saddle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The top of the rump of a horse.
  • verb obsolete, except, dialectal To croak, make a hoarse noise.
  • noun pathology An infectious illness of the larynx, especially in young children, causing respiratory difficulty.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a disease of infants and young children; harsh coughing and hoarseness and fever and difficult breathing
  • noun the part of an animal that corresponds to the human buttocks

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From dialectal croup, to croak.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English croupe, from Old French, of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English croupe, from Old French croupe ("rump, body"), from Old Norse kroppr ("body, trunk, mass"), from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“body, mass, heap, collection, crop”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to curve, bend, crawl”). More at group, crop.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Scots croup, croop ("the croup"), from Scots croup, crowp, croop ("to croak, speak hoarsely, murmur, complain"), from Old Scots crowp, crope, croap ("to call loudly, croak"), alteration of rowp, roup, roip, rope ("to cry, cry hoarsely, roop"), from Middle English roupen, ropen, from Old English hrōpan ("to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl"), from Proto-Germanic *hrōpanan (“to shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *kor- (“to caw, crow”). More at roop.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word croup.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Minnie May, Diana's sister had this in the "Anne Of Green Gables" movie and book.

    July 16, 2012