craw

In Jewish tradition

In Sefer Yetzirah it is one of the twelve organs of the body, each ruled by a letter. The translator notes that the identification of these organs is uncertain.

Interpretation. The twelve organs match the twelve simple letters, the months and the zodiac signs. Sefer Yetzirah reads the body as a small model of the world and the year.

Meaning

The first stomach pouch of a bird, where food is stored. In some texts it is the throat or the crop. tree →

Examples

• And these are the Twelve Leaders in the Person: two hands, two legs, two kidneys, spleen, liver, gall, rumen, abomasum, craw. [note 2: Identification of the latter four terms is very strange. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →

Note

A record of the Judaism dictionary, written from the corpus.

Early Modern English

Meaning

The first stomach of a bird, where food is stored; in one sentence it is the sound of crows calling. tree →

Then and now

No longer used in everyday speech. Today we say "crop" for a bird's food pouch. In the first sentence it imitates a crow's cry.

Examples

• "Craw-craw! away-away from here!" cried the great black birds, and they flew away; but on the following day they came back, for they were at home here. (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) tree →
• And these are the Twelve Leaders in the Person: two hands, two legs, two kidneys, spleen, liver, gall, rumen, abomasum, craw. [note 2: Identification of the latter four terms is very strange. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →

Note

Today: crop; stomach; a crow's call.