crock
n. countablen. something that is completely untrue or nonsense. You use this word when you think an idea or a story is foolish or a lie.
n. something considered to be complete nonsense, foolishness, or a lie. Often used in the phrase 'a crock of' followed by a derogatory term for excrement; informal and dismissive in register.
That story about the ghost is a total crock.
The politician's explanation for the missing funds was a complete crock, and the journalists knew it.
While the marketing campaign promised revolutionary results, most industry experts dismissed the claims as a crock designed to lure in unsuspecting investors.
From Middle English crok, crokke (“earthenware jar, pot, or other container; cauldron; belly, stomach”) [and other forms], from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic krokku, krokkō, from Proto-Germanic krukkō, krukkô (“vessel”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“vessel”). The English word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian krukke (“jar”), Dutch kruik (“jar, jug”), regional German Kruke (“crock”), Icelandic krukka (“pot, jar”), Old English crōg, crōh (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). See also cruse.
Compare Welsh croeg (“cover”), Scots crochit (“covered”).
Commonly appears in the idiomatic construction 'a crock of [something]'.