rare. [ad. LG. kîlkrop, G. kielkropf, of uncertain etym. (see Grimm).] An insatiate brat, popularly supposed to be a fairy changeling substituted for the genuine child.
1652. H. Bell, Luther’s Colloq., 387. Near unto Halberstad, was a man that also had a Killcrop, who sucked the mother and 5 other women drie; and besides devoured very much.
1681. T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 28. They may talk of … Canibals, Man-eaters, Killcraps, and the Devil and all.
1836. W. Irving, in Life & Lett. (1866), III. 90. Those little fairy changelings called Killcrops, which eat and eat, and are never the fatter.
a. 1843. Southey, The Killcrop, xvi. If killcrops look like children, by what power Know you they are not?
