crowd
pronunciation
How to pronounce crowd in British English:
UK [kraʊd]
How to pronounce crowd in American English:
US [kraʊd]
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- Noun:
- a large number of things or people considered together
- an informal body of friends
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- Verb:
- cause to herd, drive, or crowd together
- fill or occupy to the point of overflowing
- to gather together in large numbers
- approach a certain age or speed
Word Origin
- crowd
- crowd: [OE] The notion underlying crowd is of ‘pushing’ or ‘pressing’ (a semantic element shared by throng and of course by the now obsolete use of press for ‘crowd’, and echoed in such current expressions as ‘there’s quite a crush in here’). The Old English verb crūdan meant simply ‘press’, and of its relatives Middle Dutch crūden meant ‘press, push’ and Middle High German kroten meant ‘oppress’. Old English also had a noun croda ‘crowd’, but this does not seem to be the direct ancestor of the modern English noun, which does not appear until as late as the 16th century, as a derivative of the verb.
- crowd (v.)
- Old English crudan "to press, crush." Cognate with Middle Dutch cruden "to press, push," Middle High German kroten "to press, oppress," Norwegian kryda "to crowd." Related: Crowded; crowding.
- crowd (n.)
- 1560s, from crowd (v.). The earlier word was press (n.).
Example
- 1. Under what circumstances is the crowd smarter ?
- 2. A crowd of men formed , hooting and catcalling .
- 3. Wuhan 's new racing crowd has been converted .
- 4. I squeeze carefully through the crowd .
- 5. Mr romney himself is up early , working the breakfast crowd at blake 's restaurant .