crew

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Noun 1.2.1.1 Synonyms 1.2.1.2 Derived terms 1.2.1.3 Translations 1.2.2 Verb 1.2.2.1 Derived terms 1.2.2.2 Translations 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Verb 1.4 Etymology 3 1.4.1 Noun 1.5 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• enPR: kroo͞, IPA: /kɹuː/, SAMPA: /krU:/

   Audio (US)^{help, file}

  Rhymes: -uː

• Homophones: Crewe, cru

[edit] Etymology 1

from Middle English, from Old French creue (“‘an increase, recruit, military reinforcement’”), from feminine plural of creistre (“‘grow’”), from Latin crescere (“‘to arise, grow’”)

[edit] Noun

crew (plural crews)

1. A group of people (often staff) manning and operating a large facility or piece of equipment such as a factory, ship, boat or airplane

   If 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 plant

   One crew died in the accident.

3. (nautical, plural:crew) A member of a ship's company who is not an officer

   The officers and crew assembled on the deck.

   There are quarters for three officers and five crew.

4. (art) The group of workers on a dramatic production who are not part of the cast

   There are a lot of carpenters in the crew!

   The crews for different movies would all come down to the bar at night.

5. (art, plural: crew) A worker on a dramatic production who is not part of the cast

   There were three actors and six crew on the set.

6. A group of people working together on a task

   The crews competed to cut the most timber.

7. (informal, often derogatory) A close group of friends

   I'd look out for that whole crew down at Jack's.

8. (often derogatory) A set of individuals lumped together by the speaker
   • 1950, Bernard Nicholas Schilling, Conservative England and the Case Against Voltaire^[1], page 266:

     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.

9. (slang, hip-hop) A hip-hop group
   • 2003, Jennifer Guglielmo & Salvatore Salerno, Are Italians White?^[2], ISBN 0415934508, page 150:

     We decided we needed another rapper in the crew and spent months looking.

10. (sports) The sport of competitive rowing
    • 1989, Benjamin Spock & Mary Morgan, Spock on Spock^[3], ISBN 0394578139, page 71:

      Two Andover classmates, Al Wilson and Al Lindley, both went out for crew in our freshman year at Yale.

11. (rowing) A rowing team manning a single shell
    • 1888, W.B. Woodgate, Boating^[4], page 71:

      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.

Crew of a spaceship

Crew of a rowing shell

Crew working on a race car

A hip-hop crew

[edit] Synonyms

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

[edit] Derived terms

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

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to crew (third-person singular simple present crews, present participle crewing, simple past and past participle crewed)

1. (transitive and intransitive) To be a member of a vessel's crew

   We 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 crew

   The film was crewed and directed by students.

3. To supply workers or sailors for a crew
   • 2003, Kirk C. Jenkins, The Battle Rages Higher^[5], ISBN 0813122813, page 42:

     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 sailor

   The crewing of the vessel before the crash was deficient.

5. (nautical) To take on, recruit (new) crew
   • 1967 January, “Tampa”, The Pilot, page 30:

     The two ships will be crewing in the latter half of September.

[edit] Derived terms

• crewer
• uncrewed
• crew up

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

[edit] Verb

crew

1. (British) Simple past tense and past participle of crow. To have made the characteristic sound of a rooster.

   It was still dark when the cock crew.

[edit] Etymology 3

Probably of Brythonic origin.

[edit] Noun

crew (plural crews)

1. (British, dialectal) A pen for livestock such as chickens or pigs
   • 2004, Gillian Cross, On the Edge^[6], ISBN 0192753711, page 7:

     Between the shippon and the pig-crew, with the wind blowing over from the vegetable ground.

[edit] See also

• Appendix:Dictionary notes/crew
• Crew on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Crew (disambiguation)