קָרַץ (b. h.) 1) to make an incision; to cut. Yoma III, 4 קְרָצוֹ ומרק וכ׳ he made the ritually required cut, and some one else finished &c., v. מָרַק. Ib. 32ᵇ מאי קרצו … לישנא וכ׳ what is meant by ḳ’ratso?… It has the meaning of slaying (by ref. to Jer. XLVI, 20); Y. ib. III, 40ᶜ top, v. נָכוֹסָא. Tosef. Ukts. II, 8 כיון שקרצו as soon as he has made an incision into it (although he did not cut it apart, v. Ukts. II, 5).—Esp. to cut dough on the baker’s board. Kel. XV, 2 אם … קוֹרֵץ עליו if he prepares it to cut dough on it; Tosef. Kel. B. Mets. V, 4; a. fr.—[Y. Pes. IV, 31ᵇ top מודיי שקורצין, read: שקוצרין.] —2) to bite, pinch. Nidd. VI, 12 כדי לִקְרוֹץ בצפורן a hair large enough to seize with the nails. —3) [to form a groove,] to press the lips close together; to gesticulate with closed lips. Mikv. VIII, 5 קָרְצָה שפתותיה if (in taking a ritual immersion) she pressed her lips together.—Yoma 19ᵇ הקורא … ולא יִקְרוֹץ בשפתותיו reading the Sh’mʿa one must not blink with one’s eyes, nor gesticulate with one’s lips &c. (make motions to his neighbor).
    Pi. - קֵרֵץ same. Ib. הקורא … ומְקָרֵץ וכ׳ of him who reads the Shmʿa and blinks with his eyes and gesticulates with his lips and points with his fingers, the Scriptures say, ‘not me didst thou call &c.’ (Is. XLIII, 22); Yalk. Is. 318) וקוֹרֵץ.
    Nif. - נִקְרַץ to be nipped off. Peah VII, 4 אם נִקְרֶצֶת עם וכ׳ if it (the isolated bunch on the knee of a vine) can be nipped off as a cluster, it belongs to the owner (Ms. M. נקצרת, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note); Sifra K’dosh., Par. 1, ch. III (Var. נקצרת); Yalk. Lev. 605 נקצרת; Y. Peah VII, 20ᵃ bot. אני אומר את הנִקְרָצוֹת עם האשכולות (not עם) I mean those which have been nipped off in clusters; a. e.