E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Crone,
properly speaking, means a ewe whose teeth are worn out; but metaphorically it means any toothless old beldam. (Irish, criona, old; allied to the Greek gern, an old man.)
1
“Take up the bastard; take ’t up, I say; give to thy crone.”—Shakespeare: Winter’s Tale, ii. 3.
n, an old man.)
