crones

Noun

crone (plural crones)

1. (archaic) An old woman.
   • But still the crone was constant to her note.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Wife of Bathe’s Tale. As it was Written by Geffrey Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   old woman, babushka, bag, bat, beldame, biddy, bluehair, bubbe, carline, carlin

2. An archetypal figure, a wise woman.
   • “And what is your name, crispy, old, wizened crone?” “Oh, my name's Helen.” “Hel-- Oh, just Helen. That's it. Just Helen?” “Helen the Magic Woman.” “And you can help me rid myself of this disgusting hex?” “Yes.”2023 August 17, Jeremy Levick & Rajat Suresh, “Hybrid Creatures” (7:01 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 7, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou)
3. An ugly, evil-looking, or frightening old woman; a hag.
   • With black unseeing eyes the old woman, the crone, stares at him and through him. Over and over she mutters a word that he cannot quite catch, something like Toomderoom.2005, J. M. Coetzee, “Six”, in Slow Man, New York: Viking, →ISBN, page 36
4. (obsolete) An old ewe.
   • In traveling homeward, buy forty good crones, and fat up the bodies of those seely bones1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […]...
5. (obsolete) An old man, especially one who talks and acts like an old woman.
   • The old crone [a negro man] lived in a hovel, in the midst of a small patch of potatoes and Indian corn, which his master had given him on setting him free.1822 May 21, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Haunted House”, in Bracebridge Hall, or The Humourists. A Medley. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC...

See all 6 meanings of crone