crown
Pluralcrowns
Pluralcrowns
Formscrowns, crowning, crowned
- 1A royal, imperial, or princely headdress worn as a symbol of sovereign authority.
The king received a jeweled crown during his coronation.
Ancient crowns are kept under guard in the royal treasury.
Note
Even in its literal sense the object slides toward the power it stands for: in 1945 C. Hamilton Ellis wrote of Europe's crowns "tumbling off the heads of their royal owners."
- 2Any reward of victory or distinction serving as a mark of honor.
After three straight wins, she will defend her singles crown at next month's tournament.
The club lost its league crown to a team that had been promoted only a year earlier.
UsageChampions win, defend, retain or lose a crown: the league crown, her singles crown.
Note
The honor survives once the object is gone, and nothing need be worn at all. The martyr's crown is the classic phrase: a reward that is spiritual, not physical.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The martyr's crown represents a spiritual reward. en.wikipedia.org
- 3To declare someone the winner or champion of a competition.
Voters helped crown the underdog as this year's champion.
The league crowned a new title-holder last weekend.
UsageOften passive, with the title right after it: they were crowned world champions.
Similarname, proclaim, declare, anoint
Note
Tom Fordyce's 2011 BBC report of the Rugby World Cup final says that New Zealand "were crowned world champions." Champion, winner or title-holder takes the place of king.
- 4(usually the Crown) The monarchy as the state or government, including royal authority and the reigning monarch in an official role.
The land belongs to the crown and cannot be sold privately.
The crown prosecuted the case in the criminal court.
UsageWritten the Crown or the crown. Common in Crown land, Crown property and servants of the Crown.
Note
Law is where this sense does most of its work. Here the crown is a party that owns property and employs servants. Treasure from shipwrecks can become property of the Crown, and Macaulay's History of England (1848) speaks of "the civil and military servants of the crown." It can point to the monarch in an official role, but mostly it names the institution.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The Crown can be a legal party, own property and employ servants. legislation.gov.uk
- Macaulay's History of England first appeared in 1848. cambridge.org
- Macaulay's History of England contains the quoted phrase in its narration. en.wikisource.org
- 5An artificial cap fitted over a damaged or decayed tooth to restore its shape and function.
After the root canal, she needed a crown to protect the tooth.
Modern crowns are often made of porcelain fused to metal.
UsageAlso called a cap or a dental crown. A dentist fits a crown over the tooth.
Similarcap
- 6To make someone king, queen, or emperor, especially by placing a crown on their head in a formal ceremony.
The electors agreed to crown him as their new king.
She was crowned empress in a lavish ceremony.
UsageOften with a title after the person: crown her queen, was crowned emperor.
Note
Dryden's The Indian Emperour (1665) has "Crown her Queen of all the year," where the title, not the headgear, is the point.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- John Dryden wrote The Indian Emperour. archive.org
- The play was first published in 1667; 1665 is its first-performance year. en.wikipedia.org
- The play contains the quoted line. gutenberg.org
- 7The highest point of the head, at the very top of the skull.
The barber trimmed the hair at the crown of his head.
A bald patch was forming at the crown.
UsageUsually the crown of the head, or just the crown.
Note
Older English could stretch the word to the whole head, and even to the mind inside it. Shakespeare's Tempest has "from toe to crowne" for the entire body. Bunyan, in the apology to The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), says he had twenty more ideas "in my Crown," so the head becomes the seat of thought.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Older English could use crown for the head and, figuratively, the mind; Bunyan's context supports this interpretation. en.wikisource.org
- Shakespeare's The Tempest contains the quoted phrase, spoken by Caliban, describing pinches over the entire body. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
- John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678. en.wikisource.org
- In the author's apology, Bunyan says he had twenty more things in his Crown; interpreting these as ideas is supported by the surrounding account of composition. en.wikisource.org
- 8To form the topmost or finishing part of something, completing or perfecting it.
Stone battlements crown the old castle wall.
An elegant spire crowns the new cathedral.
Similartop, cap, surmount, crest
Note
Two uses run side by side, one physical and one about finishing. Byron's Childe Harold (1812) has "the grove that crowns yon tufted hill," where something sits on top. Motley's The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856) shows the set phrase "to crown the whole," which introduces the last and greatest item in a series.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Byron wrote Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, whose first two cantos were first published in 1812. searcharchives.bl.uk
- The poem contains the exact quoted phrase; the grove's position on the hill supports the physical interpretation. gutenberg.org
- John Lothrop Motley's The Rise of the Dutch Republic was first published in 1856. en.wikipedia.org
- Motley's book contains the exact phrase to crown the whole. gutenberg.org
- In context, the phrase introduces the culminating fourth item after three preceding alleged acts of treason, supporting the note's interpretation. gutenberg.org
- 9The highest point of achievement or splendor; the finest or culminating part of something.
The cathedral's soaring dome is the crown of the whole city.
Reaching the summit was the crown of their long expedition.
UsageUsually with of: the crown of a career, the crown of the city.
Similarculmination, completion
Note
Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) calls mutual love "the Crown of all our bliss." Culmination and completion are close synonyms, but they describe an end point. Crown also carries the splendor of the word's royal associations.
- 10A wreath or headband, typically one bestowed to reward a victory or to honor the wearer.
The victorious general was honored with a crown of laurel.
Olympic champions of antiquity wore crowns woven from wild olive.
UsageUsually a crown of + plant: a crown of laurel, a crown of olive leaves.
Note
Here the word keeps the second half of its Latin meaning. Corōna meant "wreath" as well as "crown," so the victor's garland was always part of the word, alongside the royal headdress. Garland and wreath are near synonyms, but they name the woven object, while crown presents it as an honor bestowed.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- English crown derives ultimately from Latin corōna. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin corōna meant both wreath and crown. en.wiktionary.org
- The victory-garland sense was already present alongside the royal-headgear sense in Middle English. en.wiktionary.org
- 11The knurled knob on the outside of a watch case, turned to wind the mechanism or adjust the hands.
He unscrewed the crown before resetting the date on his diving watch.
A loose crown can let moisture into the watch movement.
Similarwinder
Note
On most wristwatches this small knob sits at the three o'clock side. It connects through a stem to the movement: it sets the hands, and on a mechanical watch it winds the mainspring when turned. On many watches it also screws down to seal the case against water, so divers check that it is tight.
- 12To bestow honor, dignity, or reward upon someone or something; to adorn or to dignify.
Critics rarely crown a debut novel with such generous praise.
The general's long career was crowned with honors from three countries.
UsageOften crowned with: crowned with glory, crowned with honors.
Similarhonor, grace, adorn, dignify
Note
Here the crown has become whatever honor is laid on someone. The King James Bible of 1611 gives the classic pattern: God has crowned a person with glory, and the gift follows with.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611, the date on its first-edition title page. en.wikisource.org
- Psalm 8:5 in the 1611 King James Bible describes God crowning a human with glory and honour, using 'with' before the gift. kingjamesbibleonline.org
- 13The upper branches and foliage of a tree, forming its leafy top.
The crown of the maple turned bright red in the fall.
Loggers measured the crown spread before felling the tree.
Note
Foresters treat trees one crown at a time and measure, for example, how far each one spreads. Many crowns together make up the canopy, so the two words differ in scale. The same picture lies behind the wildfire verb, used when fire climbs into the treetops and travels through them.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Forestry researchers measure the spread of individual tree crowns. research.fs.usda.gov
- Individual tree crowns collectively form the forest canopy, distinguishing the individual-tree and stand scales. research.fs.usda.gov
- Crowning describes fire moving upward into aerial fuels and spreading through treetops. weather.gov
- 14In checkers, to mark a piece that has become a king by stacking a second checker on top of it.
He jumped two of my pieces, landed in my back row, and asked me to crown him.
Once two of her checkers had been crowned, the game turned against me.
UsagePlayers say Crown me! when a piece reaches the back row; the object can be the player or the piece.
Similarking
Note
Checkers borrows the language of coronation: a piece that reaches the back row becomes a king, so the word for making someone a monarch carries straight over to it.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Checkers applies the language of coronation to making a piece a king. en.wiktionary.org
- A piece reaching the opponent's back row becomes a king. wcdf.net
Less common meanings
- 15The portion of a tooth that projects above the gum line.
Enamel forms a protective layer over the crown of the tooth.
Decay had worn away much of the visible crown.
Note
Dental anatomy keeps the Latin form as a synonym: corona, the same word crown descends from. The natural crown is the enamel-covered part you can see. The dentist's artificial cap takes its name from the part it covers.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Corona is a Latin-derived synonym for the dental crown. en.wiktionary.org
- Crown descends from Latin corona. en.wiktionary.org
- The natural crown is the visible, enamel-covered portion of a tooth. en.wiktionary.org
- 16Of a baby during birth, to have the top of the head appear at the opening of the vagina.
The doctor announced that the baby had begun to crown.
She felt intense pressure as the head started to crown.
Note
Either the baby or the head can be the subject: the fetus "had just crowned," "the baby's head crowning," or, in Scott Gallagher's Dancing Upon the Shore (2010), simply "He's crowning." The progressive comes naturally because the head shows with each contraction before delivery.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Scott Gallagher wrote Dancing Upon the Shore. goodreads.com
- Before delivery, the head can advance during contractions and retreat afterward. swbh.nhs.uk
- 17The highest part of a hill, at its very summit.
From the crown of the ridge they could see the whole valley.
The road curves sharply just below the crown of the hill.
Similartop, peak, summit, crest, apex
Note
Poets have long used the word for a mountaintop. Dryden's Virgil (1697) fells trees "from the steepy Crown / Of the bare Mountains," and Poe's Tamerlane (1827) walks "on the crown / Of a high mountain." Prose uses it too, as in a description of "the snowy crown of the Wetterhorn." Its opposites are the foot and the base of the hill.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- John Dryden's translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
- Dryden's translation describes trees felled from the mountain's crown and contains the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
- Tamerlane first appeared in Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827); 1829 dates a revised version. eapoe.org
- Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane contains the quoted mountain passage. eapoe.org
- The phrase 'the snowy crown of the Wetterhorn' occurs in prose. en.wiktionary.org
- 18A unit of currency, originally issued by the crown and often bearing a crown, used as the English name for currencies such as the Czech koruna or Norwegian krone.
The hotel quoted its room rates in crowns rather than euros.
He had a single crown left after paying for the train.
Note
The English name stands in for a family of native names, and the family is genuine. Korona, koruna, krona, króna and krone are all doublets of crown, descended from the same Latin corōna. A price quoted in crowns is therefore a translation of the local name. It does not refer to some separate English currency.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The English currency terms korona, koruna, krona, króna and krone are doublets of crown. en.wiktionary.org
- These currency names and crown ultimately derive from Latin corōna. en.wikipedia.org
- In the stated foreign-currency context, crowns translates the local currency name rather than naming a separate English currency. en.wikipedia.org
- 19A former British coin worth five shillings, in use before the currency was decimalized.
The collector paid several pounds for a well-preserved Victorian crown.
My grandfather kept an old silver crown from before Britain changed to decimal money.
Note
A coin of the old British money that collected a swarm of slang names. J. C. Hotten's Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words (1859) records a crown piece as a bull, caroon, cartwheel, coachwheel, thick-un or tusheroon, and half a crown as an alderman.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The crown was a British coin worth five shillings before decimalization. royalmint.com
- John Camden Hotten compiled A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words, first published in 1859. en.wikipedia.org
- 20The top section of a hat, the part that sits above the brim and covers the head.
The hatmaker steamed the crown until it held its rounded shape.
A tall crown gave the stovepipe hat its distinctive look.
- 21The part of a plant where the root system and the stem join, at or near soil level.
Gardeners should keep the crown of the strawberry plant above the mulch.
Dividing the perennial means cutting through the crown into several sections.
Note
Botany puts this crown at the bottom of the plant, not the top. Unlike the top of a tree, it sits low, where root meets stem. In gardening advice it is the part kept clear of mulch, or cut through when a clump is divided.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- In this botanical sense, the crown is the root–stem junction, usually at soil level. horticulture.oregonstate.edu
- A tree's crown is a different structure, comprising its upper branching growth. en.wikipedia.org
- Gardening advice recommends keeping mulch clear of the plant's crown. extension.illinois.edu
- Dividing a clump can involve cutting through its crown. piedmontmastergardeners.org
- 22
- 23The raised central portion of a road's surface, higher than its sides.
The cyclist kept to the crown of the road to avoid the puddles at the edges.
Years of heavy trucks had flattened the crown of the highway.
Similarcrest
- 24The highest point of an arch, where the curve reaches its peak.
The keystone sits at the crown of the arch, locking the structure in place.
Water damage was worst near the crown of the bridge's central arch.
Note
Bridge builders name the parts of an arch from top to bottom, and this is the top of the list. Railway Magazine in February 1941 described an arch under demolition that "failed first at the crown, then at the quarterings, and finally at the springings." The springings are where the curve leaves its supports, and the quarterings lie between them and the crown.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The crown is the top of an arch. sremg.org.uk
- Railway Magazine published the quoted description of an arch's demolition in February 1941. en.wiktionary.org
- The springings are where an arch's curve begins at its supports. sremg.org.uk
- The quarterings lie between the springings and the crown. en.wiktionary.org
- 25Of a forest fire or bushfire, to spread into the crowns of the trees and move from treetop to treetop, independent of the fire on the ground.
When the blaze reached the dense pines, it began to crown.
Forests with continuous canopies allow fires to crown and spread rapidly.
Note
Fire-behavior language builds directly on the treetop sense. A fire that crowns has climbed off the ground fuels and moves through the canopy itself. Wind, slope and ladder fuels typically drive it, and once it crowns it can spread much faster than a surface fire.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Crowning involves fire spreading into the tree canopy. gov.nt.ca
- Wind and slope influence crown-fire spread. cfa.vic.gov.au
- Ladder fuels help surface fires reach the canopy. nps.gov
- Crowning can produce much faster spread, but does not necessarily do so; passive crown fires remain essentially surface fires with torching trees. iftdss.firenet.gov
- 26A whole bird prepared with the legs and wings removed, leaving a joint of white breast meat.
The butcher prepared a turkey crown for customers wanting only breast meat.
A crown is far easier to carve than a full bird.
Note
A butcher's and cook's term most often met in the compound turkey crown. The breast stays on the bone, and with the legs and wings gone it cooks quickly. In The Hooker in the Lobby (2012), Paul Treyvaud notes that television chefs can roast one in under two hours.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The breast meat remains on the bone. truebites.co.uk
- A crown cooks faster than a whole turkey because the legs and wings have been removed. truebites.co.uk
- Paul Treyvaud wrote The Hooker in the Lobby. paultreyvaud.com
- 27
- 28During childbirth, the appearance of the top of the baby's head at the opening of the mother's vagina.
- 29The police, so called from the Ford Crown Victoria cars long used as patrol vehicles.
- 30A circular bald patch shaved at the crest of the skull as a sign that a man is a cleric.
- 31On a rose-cut gem, the ring of small flat faces cut along its upper part.
- 32The arched, rounded roof over the inside of a furnace.
- 33A spire or lantern made from several flying buttresses that lean in and meet at the top.
- 34A five-shilling coin or banknote once issued in Commonwealth countries outside Britain, among them Ireland and Jamaica.
There is no difficulty getting married in Jamaica, is there? No, it only costs half a crown.
1866, Jamaica. Report of the Royal Jamaica Commission, 1866. Part II: Minutes of Evidence and Appendix - 35A knot made at a rope's end by weaving its strands back into one another so the rope does not come apart.
- 36The point at which an anchor's arms branch out from its long central shaft.
- 37The upward curve of a ship's deck, measured as its rise above a flat line.
- 38Paper cut to 20 by 15 inches, a traditional size for printing.
- 39Paper cut to 19 by 15 inches, a traditional size for writing on.
- 40A ring-shaped molecule with three or more points that can bond, able to hold another atom or molecule at its center.
- 41A rounded, smoothed edge cut at the muzzle of a gun barrel.
- 42The region lying between two outlines that share the same center.
- 43A dressy hat that women put on for Sunday worship.
- 44Belonging or relating to a crown.
- 45Relating to the leafy upper parts of trees.
- 46To shape something so it bulges upward, standing higher in its center than along its sides, as with a pulley face.
- 47In a first-person shooting game, to kill an opponent with a shotgun blast to the back of the skull.
- 48To enlarge the mouth of a gun's bore.
- 49To take and hold a position on top of an enemy work, such as the crest of a glacis or the top of a breach.
- 50To weave the loose strand ends of a knot across and beneath one another.
- 51To be just about to have a bowel movement.
- 52An old past participle of crow, now replaced by crowed.
Showing meanings only.
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Origin
From Middle English coroune, via Anglo-Norman corone, from Latin corōna ('crown, wreath'), which itself came from Ancient Greek korṓnē. It is a doublet of corona and krone, and it replaced the Old English words corenbēag and cynehelm.