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crack-hemp. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
crack-hemp, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
crack-hemp in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From crack + hemp.
Noun
crack-hemp (plural crack-hemps)
- (obsolete) A person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged.
- Synonyms: gallows bird, hangdog, wag-halter; see also Thesaurus:gallows bird
c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 226, column 2:Come hither, crackhempe.
1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot (Waverley Novels), page 246:Even in the Castle of Avenel thou wert a wild blood enough, but hadst thou been nurtured here, within a flight shot of the court, thou hadst been the veriest crack-hemp of a page that ever wore a feather in thy bonnet or steel by thy side: truly, I wish it may end week with thee.