crow

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɹəʊ/
• (US) enPR: krō, IPA^(key): /kɹoʊ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -əʊ

From Middle English crowe, from Old English crāwe, from Proto-West Germanic *krāā, from Proto-Germanic *krēǭ (compare West Frisian krie, Dutch kraai, German Krähe), from *krēaną (“to crow”). See below.

crow (plural crows)

1. A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles; it has a harsh, croaking call.
   • 1922, E.R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroborus:

     Gaslark in his splendour on the golden stairs saying adieu to those three captains and their matchless armament foredoomed to dogs and crows on Salapanta Hills.

2. The cry of the bird known in the US as a rooster and in British English as a cockerel.

   Synonym: cock-a-doodle-doo

3. Any of various dark-coloured nymphalid butterflies of the genus Euploea.
4. A bar of iron with a beak, crook or claw; a bar of iron used as a lever; a crowbar.

   Synonym: crowbar

   • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 267:

     He approached the humble tomb in which Antonia reposed. He had provided himself with an iron crow and a pick-axe: but this precaution was unnecessary.

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Olympia Press:

     Watt might have broken the door down, with an axe, or a crow, or a small charge of explosive, but this might have aroused Erskine's suspicions, and Watt did not want that.

5. (historical) A gangplank (corvus) used by the Ancient Roman navy to board enemy ships.
6. (among butchers) The mesentery of an animal.
7. (ethnic slur, offensive, slang) A black person.
8. (military, slang) The emblem of an eagle, a sign of military rank.
   • 2002, Ed Goodrich, Riggers that Dive (page 46)

     A young petty officer that must have just received his “crow” (a single chevron, with an eagle over it) was showing off to several seamen.

   • 2003, Jonathan T. Malay, Seraphim Sky (page 106)

     The young man had been threatened with loss of his third class rank, his “crow,” the eagle in a petty officer's sleeve insignia.

• croweater
• crowfoot
• eat crow

• caw
• murder of crows (“flock of crows”)
• raven

• Corvus (boarding device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English crowen, from Old English crāwan (past tense crēow, past participle crāwen), from Proto-Germanic *krēaną, from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gerH- (“to cry hoarsely”).[1]

Compare Dutch kraaien, German krähen, Lithuanian gróti, Russian гра́ять (grájatʹ)). Related to croak.

crow (third-person singular simple present crows, present participle crowing, simple past crowed or (UK) crew, past participle crowed or (archaic) crown)

1. (intransitive) To make the shrill sound characteristic of a rooster; to make a sound in this manner, either in gaiety, joy, pleasure, or defiance.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, OCLC 84758312, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Yet once me thought it [the ghost of Hamlet's father] was about to ſpeake, / And lifted vp his head to motion, / Like as he would ſpeake, but euen the / The morning cocke crew lowd, and in all haſte / It ſhrunke in haſte away, and vaniſhed / Our ſight.

   • 1784, The House that Jack Built, page 8:

     This is the Cock that crowed in the Morn[.]

   • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part II”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 2024748, page 37:

     'You are that Psyche' Cyril said again / 'The mother of the sweetest little maid, / That ever crow'd for kisses.'

   • 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Lady Milborough as Ambassador”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], OCLC 1118026626, page 87:

   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter III, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], OCLC 855945, page 48:

     Hearing the miner's footsteps, the baby would put up his arms and crow.

   • 1962, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, in The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan:

     When your rooster crows at the break o' dawn / Look out your window and I'll be gone.

2. (intransitive) To shout in exultation or defiance; to brag.

   He’s been crowing all day about winning the game of cards.

   • 2017 September 27, Julianne Tveten, “Zucktown, USA”, in The Baffler‎:

     Touting its sponsorship of local engineering and sustainability programs, Amazon crows about such “investments” as its dog park, playing fields, art installations, and Buckyball-reminiscent domical gardens.

3. (intransitive, music) To test the reed of a double reed instrument by placing the reed alone in the mouth and blowing it.

The past tense crew in modern usage is confined to literary and metaphorical uses, usually with reference to the story of Peter in Luke 22.60. The past participle crown is similarly poetical.

• crow over

• crow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Worc

crow

1. Alternative form of crowe