Obs. exc. Sc. and dial. Forms: α. 4–5 crage, 5–8 crag, 7 cragg, 7–8 cragge; β. Sc. 6 kraig, 6–8 craige, 7 craigge, 6– craig (krēg). [Chiefly northern: in Sc. from 14th c., and may be older. It corresponds to Du. kraag, MDu. crāghe (Kilian kraeghe) m. and fem., Ger. kragen, MHG. krage masc., EFris. krage, WFris. kreage, neck, collar; also to Icel. kragi, Norw. and Sw. krage, Da. krave collar.
The WGer. type is *krago; but the non-appearance of the word in the earlier stages of the languages is notable. The general opinion of etymologists also is that the Norse and Scandinavian words are from German, since they show only the secondary sense ‘collar’; in that case our word is prob. from some Low German source: no OE. *craga is recorded, and, if it existed, it could only give CRAW q.v.]
1. The neck. (Chiefly Sc., but also north. Eng.)
c. 1375. Barbour, Troy-bk., II. 2926. He his crage straik ewyne ine two.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 400. Apon the crag with his suerd has him tayne.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. xv. 151. Hir sowpil crag inclynand.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), I. 7. With cumlie craig that wes bayth greit and fair.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Feb., 82. Like wailefull widdowes hangen their crags.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 135. Atlas … would … breake his cragge.
1661. K. W., Conf. Charac., Informers (1860), 46. Extending his noddle, and straining his crag.
1704. R. Kingston, Hist. Man, 41. I will command him to be Hanged by the Cragge.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., vi. Were I to be hanged myself, no other should tie tippet about my craig.
1878. Cumbrld. Gloss., Crag, the neck or countenance. ‘He hang a lang crag when t’ news com.’
b. The throat. (So G. kragen.)
a. 1774. Fergusson, Poems (1789), II. 92 (Jam.). Couthy chiels at e’ening meet Their bizzing craigs and mous to weet.
Mod. Sc. ‘Pit that ower yer craig’ [= swallow that]. ‘It’s all away down Craig’s Close,’ i.e., swallowed.
c. The craw or crop of a fowl. dial.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Crag, the craw.
1883. Almondb. & Huddersf. Gloss., Craig or Craigh, the craw, or crop of a fowl.
† 2. A neck of mutton or veal, as a joint. Obs. [Cf. SCRAG, which appears to be a perversion of crag in this sense.]
1469. Ord. Dk. Clarence, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 95. The cragges of veele and moton.
1767. B. Thornton, trans. Plautus, I. 327. How I shall chop the crags from off the chines.
3. Comb. crag-bone (Sc. -bane), the bone of the neck, the cervical vertebræ; crag-cloth (Sc. craig-claith), a neck-cloth; crag-end, the neck-end of a ‘neck’ of mutton; now scrag-end.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 54. His crag bayne was brokyn.
a. 1648. Digby, Closet Open. (1677), 127. A crag-end or two of necks of Mutton.
1685. in Depred. Clan Campbell (1816), 114. Item, twenty craig-cloaths and cravatts for men.
1714. J. Walker, Suff. Clergy, II. 61/2. That he did eat the Cragg Ends of the Neck of Mutton himself, that he might leave the Poor the Shoulders.
1725. Cock-laird, in Orpheus Caled., Craig-claiths and lug-babs.
