croggan

Noun

croggan (plural croggans)

1. (Cornwall) A limpet shell.
   • Then she saw Tom sitting on the chimney-stool, and his wife taking on the tip of her finger from a croggan (limpet-shell) what appeared to be salve, which she rubbed over her husband's eyes.1873, William Bottrell, Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, page 155
   • Conjurors and parsons were brought in, who for a time bound the troublesome ghost to emptying Dozmary Pool on Bodmin with a "croggan" or limpet shell.2005, Jennifer Westwood, Jacqueline Simpson, The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-Heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys, page 117
2. (Scotland) A clay urn made by hand in the Outer Hebrides.
   • From time immemorial "croggans" and "bollachans" or milk basins were made out of clay by the people in the district for their domestic use, but besides these there is no record of any other utensils having been manufactured.1901, Windsor and Kenfield, Brick and Clay Record, volumes 14-15, page 265
   • He had sent the ground officer with a "croggan of tar" with which he marked the ears of all the stock.1982, Inverness Gaelic Society, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, volume 53, page 72