crowing

1. 1
   noununcountable

   A sound of glee, such as a shout or squeal, uttered by someone who is delighted or pleased.

   A burst of crowing rose from the toddlers as the clown appeared.

   Her crowing at winning the raffle echoed across the hall.

   Similarsquealing, whooping, cheering

   Note

   Unlike the gerund of the verb form, this is a true countable noun with a plural. A baby can utter "the most satisfied of crowings," as the Methodist Episcopal Church's Ladies' Repository put it in 1865. It sits naturally with the wordless delight of an infant, and it keeps none of the bragging edge the verb can carry. Here crowing is pure pleasure, not boasting.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of crow.

   The rooster was crowing from the fence post at first light.

   She was crowing about her promotion to anyone who would listen.

   Note

   One form does two jobs. After be it builds the progressive (the rooster was crowing), and on its own it names the activity the way a noun would. It carries every sense of the verb: a rooster's call, a person's bragging about a success, even a reed player testing a double reed by blowing it alone in the mouth. The bird and the crowbar share the spelling of crow but play no part here.

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