English Explanatory Dictionary

crony

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A close friend.
  2. A trusted companion or partner in a criminal organization.
noun
  1. An old woman; a crone.

Pronunciation

/ˈkɹoʊni/ /ˈkɹəʊni/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-crony.wav

Word forms

crony cronies chrony

Etymology

Coined between 1655 and 1665 from Ancient Greek χρόνιος (khrónios, “perennial, long-lasting”); see also chrono- (“time”). Initially Cambridge University slang, in sense of “chum”, as “friend of long standing”, with illegal connotation later. Early spellings included chrony, as in 1665 diary by Samuel Pepys, supporting the Greek origin.

Synonyms

babber billy bredrin bruv bud buddo buddy butty chaver china chuck chum cock cocker cobber compadre comrade companion cove crony dawg dude duck fam fettler friend geez geezer gink good old boy homeskillet homie kith lover marrow mate matey mucker old bean pal pardner peeps punk shag sport surry tovarish wantok

Antonyms

noncrony

Derived words

crony capitalism crony democracy cronydom cronyish cronyism cronyist cronyistic cronynomics noncrony Tony crony
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on C Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary