# crew

Pronunciation: say "KROO" US /kɹu/, UK /kɹuː/

## Noun

1. The group of people, often paid staff, who operate a large facility or vehicle such as a ship, plane, or spacecraft.
   - Simple: The team of people who run a ship, plane, or other large machine.
   - _The flight crew prepared the cabin before takeoff._
   - _Mission control stayed in constant contact with the crew aboard the station._
2. A group of people who work together on a particular job, such as the team behind the scenes of a film or show.
   - Simple: A group of people who do a job together, like the people who make a film but do not act in it.
   - _A road crew patched the potholes before the morning rush._
   - _The moving crew loaded the truck in under two hours._
3. A person who is a member of a crew, on a ship, plane or production, especially one below the officers.
   - Simple: One person who works as part of a crew, for example on a ship or a film.
   - _He served as crew on the tanker for eighteen months._
   - _After two seasons as crew on a cargo ship, she studied for her officer's license._
4. A tight-knit group of close friends, used casually and sometimes with disapproval. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A close group of friends who spend a lot of time together.
   - _He never goes anywhere without his crew tagging along._
   - _The whole crew showed up uninvited to the wedding._
5. A group of people who perform hip-hop music or breakdancing together. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A group of people who make hip-hop music or do hip-hop dancing together.
   - _Their crew earned respect for inventing moves nobody had seen before._
   - _She joined a crew of b-boys who trained in an abandoned warehouse._
6. A set of people lumped together and viewed collectively with disapproval by the speaker.
   - Simple: A group of people the speaker does not like or respect.
   - _That crew down at the bar is always causing trouble._
   - _He fell in with a rough crew after dropping out._
8. A team of rowers who work together to power and steer a single racing shell.
   - Simple: A team of people who row one boat together in a race.
   - _The crew pulled in perfect rhythm down the final stretch._
   - _Three crews lined up at the start, oars poised above the water._
9. The sport of competitive rowing, in which teams race boats propelled by oars. *(US)*
   - Simple: The sport of racing boats by rowing them.
   - _Many students take up crew to compete in spring regattas._
   - _She earned a scholarship after years of rowing crew._

## Verb

7. To work as a member of a crew, especially on a boat or ship, or on a film or show.
   - Simple: To work as one of the people in a crew, on a boat or on a film.
   - _They crew the racing yacht together every summer._
   - _She crews on a tall ship during the festival season._
10. To provide a ship, boat or production with the people who make up its crew.
   - Simple: To find and give a ship or a film the people it needs to work on it.
   - _The agency helps producers crew their films at short notice._
   - _Owners scrambled to crew the fleet before the season opened._

## Noun

11. Any company of people gathered together; a throng or assemblage. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Any group of people gathered together.
13. The Manx shearwater, a black-and-white seabird that nests in burrows and ranges widely over the open ocean. *(dated)*
   - Simple: The Manx shearwater, a black-and-white seabird that nests in burrows on small islands.

## Verb

12. Past tense of crow. Archaic and chiefly British; the usual form is crowed. *(archaic, British)* — simple past of crow (“make the characteristic sound of a rooster”).
   - Simple: Past tense of crow. An old form: people now say crowed.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A group of Rovers: members of the senior, young-adult section of the Scouting movement.
- (noun) A pen or enclosure for keeping livestock such as chickens or pigs.

## Origin

Latin crescere ("to arise, grow") gave Old French creistre ("to grow"), whose feminine past participle creue ("an increase, recruit, military reinforcement") was taken into Middle English as crue.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/crew (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).