Meaning
A display of sorrow or sympathy that is insincere; tears or grief put on for effect by someone who does not actually feel it. The phrase usually appears in constructions like 'to shed crocodile tears'. Strongly accusatory; it charges someone with hypocrisy, so it belongs to criticism and polemic rather than neutral description. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The expression rests on an old and widespread false belief that crocodiles weep over the prey they are eating. The idea of a creature weeping over its victim appears in English around the turn of the eleventh century in 'The Wonders of the East', attached to the legendary man-eating Donestre rather than to crocodiles; the legend transferred to crocodiles by about 1265 in Brunetto Latini's encyclopedia, and a version in which crocodiles use tears to lure prey appears in Hakluyt's 1589 account of John Hawkins's 1564 voyage. The earliest known use of the phrase itself is by Edmund Grindal, Bishop of London, who wrote in 1563 of a man's 'Tears, Crocodile Tears' as possibly insincere. Classical antecedents such as Pliny the Elder circulated the same belief, and Shakespeare's references (notably in Othello, 1603) kept it alive. Modern zoology confirms crocodiles do produce tears, but for physiological reasons such as lubrication, not emotion.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- cry crocodile tears
- shed crocodile tears
- to shed crocodile tears over something
- weep crocodile tears
Usage Examples
- The developer shed crocodile tears over the demolished theatre while counting the profits.
- Her apology was widely seen as crocodile tears, offered only after the sponsors withdrew.
- Critics accused the network of crying crocodile tears in its tribute coverage.