crap

KRAP/kɹæp/

Pluralcraps (some meanings)

Adjectivecrapper, crappest

Verbcraps, crapping, crapped

11 meanings of crap

Practice

1
nounslangmildly vulgaruncountable
Stuff that is worthless or of poor quality.
Half the gifts at the office party were useless crap nobody wanted.
The garage is packed with thirty years of broken furniture and other crap.
UsageUsed like stuff: a lot of crap, all this crap. At work or in formal writing, junk is the safe word.
Similarjunk, rubbish, garbage, trash
2
rubbish talknounslangmildly vulgaruncountable
Talk or claims that are nonsense or untrue.
The salesman's promise of a lifetime warranty turned out to be complete crap.
I'm tired of hearing the same crap about how the project is almost finished.
UsageOften complete crap or utter crap; the same crap is a claim heard once too often.
Similarnonsense, rubbish, garbage, baloney
Note
Here the word passes judgment on something said rather than something made: a boast, an excuse or a promise is crap when it is false or empty, while the "junk" meaning condemns a thing's value or quality.
3
poor qualityadjectivemildly vulgarcolloquial
Of poor quality or a low standard.
We stayed in a crap hotel with broken heating and thin walls.
Honestly, the food at that place is crap, no matter what the reviews say.
UsageBefore a noun (a crap hotel) or after a verb (the food is crap). In careful writing, poor is safer.
Similarlousy, rubbish, terrible, awful, rotten
Oppositegreat, good, excellent
4
exclamationinterjectionslangmildly vulgar
Used as an exclamation of worry, fear, shock, surprise, disgust, annoyance, or dismay.
Oh, crap, I left my wallet at the restaurant!
Crap! The printer jammed again, right before the meeting.
UsageOften oh crap for sudden alarm, aw crap for weary annoyance.
Similardamn, shit, dammit, darn
5
dungnounslangmildly vulgaruncountable
Solid waste passed out of the body through the bowels.
Someone forgot to clean up after their dog, and now there's crap all over the park path.
The plumber pulled out a wad of toilet paper and crap that had clogged the pipe.
UsageWith no article or with some: dog crap on the path. With a, as in take a crap, it means the act.
Similarshit, poop, poo
6
verbslangmildly vulgarintransitive
To empty the bowels, sometimes in or on something such as one's clothing.
Hikers should dig a small hole before they crap in the woods.
Something he ate at the fair had him crapping all night.
UsageUsually no object, with a place after a preposition: crap in the woods. The forms are crapped and crapping.
Similarshit, poop
7
dice gamenounbefore a noun
Attributive form of craps: the dice game's name used before a noun, as in crap table or crap game.
The casino added two more crap tables to handle the weekend crowds.
A noisy crap game had started up in the back room of the bar.
Note
Before another noun the game's name drops its final s: a crap table, a crap game, crap bets, though the game itself stays craps. The short form travels beyond the casino, too; William Baldwin's "Yield Games" in Forbes (2014) calls bets that pay only while interest rates stay put a crap game.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
William Baldwin wrote “Yield Games”, published in Forbes in 2014. en.wiktionary.org
The article uses “crap game” figuratively for bets that earn money while interest rates stay put. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

8
a bowel movementnounslangmildly vulgarcountable
A single act of emptying the bowels.
Halfway through the hike, Tom wandered off behind a tree to take a crap.
He came back from his morning crap complaining that the toilet was clogged.
UsageUsually take a crap.
Similardump, shit, poop, poo
9
losing thrownouncountable
In craps, a losing throw of 2, 3, or 12.
Her first roll was a crap, a pair of ones, and the whole table groaned.
He threw three straight craps and walked away from the table.
Oppositenatural
Note
A throw of 2, 3 or 12 loses a Pass Line bet outright only on the come-out roll, the first of a round; once a point is set, those totals do not affect that bet.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The come-out roll is the first roll of a round. venetianlasvegas.com
10
lie toverbslangmildly vulgarIndiatransitive
To try to fool someone with lies or nonsense.
He tried to crap the professor about losing his assignment, but she had already checked the portal.
"Stop trying to crap me," I told my cousin. "You promised to pay me back three times already."
UsageThe person fooled is the object: don't try to crap me.
Similarbullshit, con, fool
11
nounobsoleteuncountable
The husks of grain; chaff.
Note
The sense nearest the word's roots, now obsolete: Middle English crappe meant chaff, and in the plural also buckwheat, reaching English through French from an Old Dutch verb meaning "to cut off, pluck off." Chaff is what winnowing carries away, so the word first named the husks a farmer sweeps aside, not anything said or made.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
The chaff sense is obsolete and reflects the word's historical meaning. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English crappe meant chaff. en.wiktionary.org
Plural forms of Middle English crappe also meant buckwheat. en.wiktionary.org
The word reached English through French from Old Dutch krappen, meaning to cut or pluck off. en.wiktionary.org
Threshing loosens the grain; winnowing carries loose chaff away. fao.org
The word originally denoted grain husks rather than speech or manufactured things. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of crap apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–6, 8, 10–11

Old Dutch krappen, meaning to cut or pluck off, is the source. It gave Old French crappe or crapin ("chaff") (compare Medieval Latin crappa, crapinum), then Middle French crape and Middle English crappe, also found in the plural as crappys or craps, meaning chaff or buckwheat. The same Old Dutch verb produced Middle Dutch crappe, crap ("a chop, cutlet"), and from that Dutch krip ("a steak"). Crop is related.

Meanings 7, 9

From crab's eyes.