Crew

Pronunciation

• enPR: krooÍž, IPA: /kɹuː/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: Crewe, cru

from Middle English, from Old French creue ("an increase, recruit, military reinforcement"), the feminine past participle of creistre ("grow"), from Latin crescere ("to arise, grow")

Full definition of crew

Noun

1. A group of people (often staff) manning and operating a large facility or piece of equipment such as a factory, ship, boat, or airplaneIf you need help, please contact a member of the crew.The crews of the two ships got into a fight.
2. (plural: crew) A member of the crew of a vessel or plantOne crew died in the accident.
3. (obsolete) Any company of people; an assemblage; a throng.
• SpenserThere a noble crew
  Of lords and ladies stood on every side.
• MiltonFaithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew?
4. (nautical, plural: crew) A member of a ship's company who is not an officerThe officers and crew assembled on the deck.''There are quarters for three officers and five crew.
5. (arts) The group of workers on a dramatic production who are not part of the castThere are a lot of carpenters in the crew!The crews for different movies would all come down to the bar at night.
6. (arts, plural: crew) A worker on a dramatic production who is not part of the castThere were three actors and six crew on the set.
7. A group of people working together on a taskThe crews competed to cut the most timber.
8. (informal, often derogatory) A close group of friendsI'd look out for that whole crew down at Jack's.
9. (often derogatory) A set of individuals lumped together by the speaker
• 1861 William Weston Patton, (version of) John Brown's BodyHe captured Harper’s Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled thru and thru;They hung him for a traitor, they themselves the traitor crew,But his soul is marching on.
• Malignant principles bear fruit in kind and the Revolution did no more than practice what men had been taught by the abandoned crew of philosophers.
10. (slang, hip-hop) A hip-hop group
• We decided we needed another rapper in the crew and spent months looking.
11. (sports, rowing, uncountable) The sport of competitive rowing.
• Two Andover classmates, Al Wilson and Al Lindley, both went out for crew in our freshman year at Yale.
12. (rowing) A rowing team manning a single shell.
• If a crew feather much under water, it is a good plan to seat them in a row on a bench, and give each man a stick to handle as an oar.

Synonyms

• (group manning a vessel) ship's company, all hands, complement
• (member of a crew) crewer, member; nautical only: sailor, seaman
• (non-officer ship worker) seaman
• (non-cast dramatic personnel) staff, stagehand
• (group engaged in a task) team, gang
• (social group) clique, gang, pack, crowd, bunch, lot UK; posse
• (group lumped together) crowd, flock, lot, gang
• (hip-hop group) posse, band, group

Derived terms

• crew cut
• crewless
• crewman
• crew mate
• ground crew/groundcrew
• motley crew
• skeleton crew

Verb

1. (transitive and intransitive) To be a member of a vessel's crewWe crewed together on a fishing boat last year.The ship was crewed by fifty sailors.
2. To be a member of a work or production crewThe film was crewed and directed by students.
3. To supply workers or sailors for a crew
• Steele crewed the boat with men from his own regiment and volunteers from John Wood's detachment.
4. (nautical) To do the proper work of a sailorThe crewing of the vessel before the crash was deficient.
5. (nautical) To take on, recruit (new) crew
• The two ships will be crewing in the latter half of September.

Derived terms

• crewer
• uncrewed
• crew up

Verb

1. (British)

   crew

   (past of crow)
   To have made the characteristic sound of a rooster.It was still dark when the cock crew.

Probably of origin.

Noun

1. (British, dialectal) A pen for livestock such as chickens or pigs
• Between the shippon and the pig-crew, with the wind blowing over from the vegetable ground.

Noun

1. The Manx shearwater.