/kɹaʊd/
OriginFrom Middle English crouden, from Old English crūdan, from Proto-West Germanic *krūdan, from Proto-Germanic *krūdaną, *kreudaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *grewt- (“to push; press”). Cognate with German Low German kroden (“to push, shove”), Dutch kruien (“to push, shove”).
- intransitiveTo press forward; to advance by pushing.
“The man crowded into the packed room.”
- intransitiveTo press together or collect in numbers.
“They crowded through the archway and into the park.”
“[T]he whole company closed their ranks, and crowded about the fire.”
“Images came crowding on his mind faster than he could put them into words.”
- transitiveTo press or drive together, especially into a small space; to cram.
“He tried to crowd too many cows into the cow-pen.”
“[…]The Time (miſ-order’d) doth in common ſence / Crowd vs, and cruſh vs, to this monſtrous Forme, / To hold our ſafetie vp.”
- transitiveTo fill by pressing or thronging together
“The balconies and verandas were crowded with spectators, anxious to behold their future sovereign.”
- often, transitiveTo push, to press, to shove.
“They tried to crowd her off the sidewalk.”
“Alexis's mementos and numerous dance trophies were starting to crowd her out of her little bedroom.”
- To approach another ship too closely when it has right of way.
- transitiveTo carry excessive sail in the hope of moving faster.
“With all her might she crowds all sail off shore; in so doing, fights ’gainst the very winds that fain would blow her homeward; seeks all the lashed sea’s landlessness again; for refuge’s sake forlorn”
- transitiveTo press by solicitation; to urge; to dun; hence, to treat discourteously or unreasonably.
- intransitive, obsoleteTo play on a crowd; to fiddle.
“Fiddlers, crowd on, crowd on.”
- A group of people congregated or collected into a close body without order.
“After the movie let out, a crowd of people pushed through the exit doors.”
“Athelstan Arundel walked home[…], foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the leas”
“He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.[…]But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again[…]she found her mother standing up before the seat”
- Several things collected or closely pressed together; also, some things adjacent to each other.
“There was a crowd of toys pushed beneath the couch where the children were playing.”
- with-definite-articleThe so-called lower orders of people; the populace; the vulgar.
“He went not, with the Crowd, to ſee a Shrine;”
“[…]To fool the crowd with glorious lies,[…]”
- A group of people united or at least characterised by a common interest.
“That obscure author's fans were a nerdy crowd which hardly ever interacted before the Internet age.”
“We're concerned that our daughter has fallen in with a bad crowd.”
“Maybe it was time I joined the crowd and bought a few of those for my own office.”
- dialectalA fiddle.
“That keep their Consciences in Cases, / As Fiddlers do their Crowds and Bases,[…]”
“[…]wandering palmers, hedge-priests, Saxon minstrels, and Welsh bards, were muttering prayers, and extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and rotes.”
Formscrowds(present, singular, third-person) · crowding(participle, present) · crowded(participle, past) · crowded(past) · crowds(plural)