crew
Pluralcrews
Pluralcrews
- 1The team of people who run a ship, plane, or other large machine.
Like a team that works together to keep a big machine running.
The crew worked through the night to keep the ship on course.
A skilled crew can launch the spacecraft safely.
UsageYou can say the crew is or the crew are. One person is a crew member.
Similarstaff, personnel, complement
- 2A group of people who do a job together, like the people who make a film but do not act in it.
Like a group of friends who clean up a yard together.
The cleanup crew arrived after the festival ended.
A crew of volunteers painted the whole fence in one afternoon.
UsageUsually with the job first (film crew, road crew), or a crew of helpers.
- 3One person who works as part of a crew, for example on a ship or a film.
Like one player on a team, but for a ship or factory.
He worked as crew on a fishing boat all summer.
She worked as crew aboard the research ship.
UsageFor people, say five crew or work as crew. Crews means whole teams.
- 4
- 5A group of people who make hip-hop music or do hip-hop dancing together.
Her dance crew won the breakdancing contest at the block party.
My cousin raps with a hip-hop crew from our neighborhood.
Similartroupe
Note
- 6A group of people the speaker does not like or respect.
Like calling a group 'that bunch' when you don't think much of them.
I don't want you hanging around with that crew anymore.
The whole crew of them showed up late and made a mess.
UsageUsually that crew or a rough crew, said about people you don't like.
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Less common meanings
- 7To work as one of the people in a crew, on a boat or on a film.
Like being one of the people who sail the boat together.
Three friends crew the small sailboat each weekend.
He learned to crew on his uncle's fishing boat.
UsageSay crew on a boat, or crew a boat.
Note
- 8A team of people who row one boat together in a race.
Like a sports team, but everyone rows the same boat at once.
Our crew won the race by two boat lengths.
The crew practices on the river every morning before dawn.
Similarteam
Note
- 9The sport of racing boats by rowing them.
Like a swim team, but for racing boats with oars.
She rows crew for her college team.
He joined crew in his first year of high school.
UsageSay row crew or join crew, with no "a" or "the".
Similarrowing
Note
- 10To find and give a ship or a film the people it needs to work on it.
Like filling a team with enough players to start the game.
The company will crew the new vessel with experienced sailors.
They struggled to crew the expedition on short notice.
UsageSay crew a ship with people.
- 11
- 12Past tense of crow. An old form: people now say crowed.
And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! You know how little while we have to stay, And, once departed, may return no more."
1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of PersiaHere, crew is the past tense of crow, meaning the rooster called out.It was still dark when the cock crew.
Note
- 13The Manx shearwater, a black-and-white seabird that nests in burrows on small islands.
Similarshearwater
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- 14A group of older scouts in the senior part of the scouting program.
- 15A small fenced pen for farm animals such as pigs or chickens.
Between the shippon and the pig-crew, with the wind blowing over from the vegetable ground.
2004, Gillian Cross, On the Edge
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Practice
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Origin
From an Old French word meaning a military reinforcement, which came from Latin crescere, "to grow."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Crew derives from an Old French word meaning military reinforcement. en.wiktionary.org
- That Old French word ultimately derives from Latin crescere, meaning to grow. fr.wiktionary.org