crowns

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of crown.

   The royal jewels included several gold crowns set with rubies.

   The maples along the avenue had broad, leafy crowns that met overhead.

   Note

   A regular plural, formed with -s, that fits the countable meanings most naturally: jeweled headdresses, victors' wreaths, honors in general. When crown means royal power or the state itself, the singular usually stands alone. The plural appears mainly when several realms are in view, as in the crowns of two kingdoms united under one ruler.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of crown.

   The archbishop crowns the new monarch in a ceremony watched by millions.

   A ring of ancient stones crowns the hill above the village.

   Note

   The present-tense form for a single subject. In most of its meanings it takes a direct object: the archbishop crowns the monarch, a late victory crowns a career. The declaring sense can add a title after the object, as in crowns her queen. The birthing sense is different. There the baby is the subject and nothing follows (the baby crowns), and the sentence shape sets it apart from the plural noun.

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