▪ I. † crowd, n.1 Now only Hist. or dial.
(kraʊd)
Forms: α. 4 crouþe, 4–5 crouth(e, 7–9 crowth; β. 4–6 croude, 4–7 crowde, (5 kroude, 6 croudde), 6–8 croud, 6–9 crowd.
[a. Welsh crwth m. violin, fiddle; also, a swelling or bulging body, a paunch, a kind of round bulging box, akin to croth fem. swelling, protuberance, belly, womb. These words correspond as the masc. and fem. of adjs.: cf. crwm, crom crooked, etc. The fem. form alone is found in the other Celtic langs., but in both senses: cf. Gaelic cruit fem. harp, violin, croit fem. hump, hunch, Ir. cruit fem. violin, and hump, hunch; OIr. crot (genit. croite, cruite, dat. acc. croit) harp, cithara, in late L. crotta a British musical instrument mentioned by Venantius Fortunatus c 600.]
prop. An ancient Celtic musical instrument of the viol class, now obsolete, having in early times three strings, but in its later form six, four of which were played with a bow and two by twitching with the fingers; an early form of the fiddle.
| a 1310 Lyric P. xvi. 53 Ther nis fiele ne crouth that such murthes maketh. c 1330 King of Tars. (MS.A.) 503 No minstral wiþ harp no crouþe. 1382 Wyclif Luke xv. 25 Whanne he..neiȝede to the hous, he herde a symphonye and a crowde. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 355 And Wales vsethe trumpettes, an harpe, and a crowde. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. xi, Harpes, lutes, and crouddes ryght delycyous. 1571 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 98 All the instrumentall musicke upon the Harpe and Crowth. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe xli, Saxon minstrels, and Welsh bards..extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, crowds, and rotes. 1880 P. David in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 422 Crwth..or Crowd, as far as we know the oldest stringed instrument played with the bow..Bingley heard it played at Carnarvon as late as 1801; but it is now entirely out of use. |
b. Hence, a fiddle. Still dial.
| 1622 Middleton, etc. Old Law v. i, Enter Fiddlers and others. Evander. Stay the crowd awhile. 1664 Butler Hudibras ii. ii. 6 That kept their Consciences in Cases, As Fidlers do their Crowds and Bases. c 1680 Roxb. Ball. VII. 18 When a Fidler wants his Crowd. 1746 Exmoor Courtship 84 Es coud a borst tha Croud in Shivers, and tha Crouder too. 1847 in Halliwell as northern. 1869 in Lonsdale Gloss. 1875 in Lancash. Gloss. 1880 in W. Cornwall Gl. and E. Cornwall Gl. |
c. transf. Applied to the player.
| 1607 Heywood Fayre Mayde Wks. 1874 II. 21 Well, Crowde, what say you to Fiddle now? 1719 D'Urfey Pills II. 232 An old Crowd..stood twanging. |
▪ II. † crowd, n.2 Obs.
Also 4–5 crudde, 6 croude, crowde.
[Anglo-Fr. crudde, app. corresponding to OF. crute, crote, later croute = Pr. crota, It. grotta:—late L. crupta, grupta, for L. crypta: see crypt. Of the d in the AF. and Eng. word no explanation has been found.]
An underground vault, a crypt. (Also commonly in pl.)
| 1399 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 129 Pro ostio in le Cruddes, 6d. 1472 Ibid. 225 Lez Cruddes voc. Seint Wilfride nedyll. 1478 Botoner Itin. (Nasmith 1778) 220 Ad introitum ecclesiæ voltæ vocatæ le crowd..Ad descensum voltæ de le croude. 1501 Will of Barre (Somerset Ho.), To be buried in the Crowde of Saint John Baptist in Bristow. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 700 Within the Church, Saint Wilfrides Needle..A narrow hole this was, in the Crowdes or close vaulted roome under the ground. Ibid. i. 703 In a certaine vault or crowdes or a little chappell under the ground. 1658 Dugdale St. Pauls 117 Heretofore called Ecclesia S. Fidis, in Cryptis (or [St. Faith] in the Croudes, according to the vulgar expression). |
▪ III. crowd, n.3
(kraʊd)
Also 6–7 croude, 7 crowde, 7–8 croud.
[f. crowd v.]
1. a. A large number of persons gathered so closely together as to press upon or impede each other; a throng, a dense multitude. (The earlier term from 13th c. was press.)
| 1567 Drant Hor. Epist., To Numitius (R.), Who will, and dare retche forthe his hande, And man the throughe the croude. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iv. i. 57 Among the crowd i' th' Abbey, where a finger Could not be wedg'd in more. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 121 Hee perceived through a window..no small crowde of people. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. ii. 183, I was surrounded by a croud of people. 1847 L. Hunt Jar Honey iv, Powers, what a crowd ! how shall we get along? 1881 Bible Mark ii. 4 They could not come nigh unto him for the crowd [1611 press]. |
b. spec. A mass of spectators; an audience. (Cf. quot. 1613 under sense 1.)
| c 1863 E. Dickinson Poems (1968) II. 539 Their [sc. balloons'] Ribbons just beyond the eye—They struggle—some—for Breath—And yet the Crowd applaud, below. 1921 Times 1 Mar. 16/7 The crowd jeered at Hobbs owing to his slow movements in the field due to his recent injury. 1955 Manch. Guardian 30 Apr. 3/6 In recent years the crowd at Wembley Stadium has not seen the game of Rugby League played at its best. 1970 New Statesman 9 Oct. 454/3 The crowd was very similar both in behaviour and appearance to the audience that came to the Beaulieu jazz festivals. 1971 Sunday Times 31 Jan. 12/1 Tennis players lecture the line judge, appeal to the crowd. |
c. A collection of actors playing the part of a crowd; freq. attrib.
| 1899 L. Wagner How to get on Stage 71 Sir Henry Irving when his two sons elected to go on the stage..said..‘I could only allow them to stand in the crowd at the Lyceum, to accustom them to the boards, and afterwards procure them an engagement in a touring company.’ 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 100/1 What do I do? Oh, I go on with the crowd. 1935 J. Dell Nobody ordered Wolves v. 69 Her sole ambition had been to do crowd-work. 1936 Archit. Rev. LXXX. 192 If you are ‘crowd’, you go to one of the big communal dressing rooms. 1937 Ibid. LXXXII. 286 The interior is designed as a background to this ‘crowd-scene’. |
2. transf. a. A large number (of persons) contemplated in the mass.
| 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 17 The whole crowd of those we converse with, what are they? 1712 Steele Spect. No. 264 ¶1 Wherein you have Crouds of Rivals. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 331 The principal pulpits..were occupied..by a crowd of distinguished men. |
b. The people who throng the streets and populous centres; the masses; the multitude.
| 1683 Tryon Way to Health 630 We ought..not [to] esteem a thing good..because the Multitude do it..for there is scarce a worse guide than the Croude. 1750 Gray Elegy xix, Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 225 This passage sounds unpleasantly like an appeal to the crowd in a matter of science. |
c. orig. U.S. A company; ‘set’, ‘lot’. colloq.
(Like ‘lot’, used of an individual, e.g. ‘he's a bad crowd’.)
| 1840 Congress. Globe Apr., App. 376/2, I became satisfied that Democracy had but few charms for that crowd. 1857 Borthwick California 195 (Bartlett) He was one of the most favorable specimens of that crowd. 1883 Sweet & Knox Through Texas 13 He ‘always went heeled, toted a derringer, and was a bad crowd generally’. 1889 Farmer Americanisms s.v., I don't belong to that crowd, i.e. I don't belong to that set. 1892 Boldrewood Nevermore II. xvii. 207 He..got mixed up with a crooked Sydney-side crowd. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. x. 218 They treat him as one of themselves. Same as they treat me... I'm one of the crowd now. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise ii. 33 The 'varsity crowd don't quarrel like the rest of them. Ibid. iii. 41 He used to tag round with that de Momerie crowd. 1939 Chatelaine Jan. 19/3 My bridge crowd was over the other night. 1971 Woman 23 Jan. 59/1 She was going through a particularly rebellious phase and seemed to be in with a wild crowd. |
d. colloq. A military unit.
| 1901 Westm. Gaz. 31 Aug. 2/1 My crowd on this day were left flank advance guard. 1929 P. Gibbs Hidden City vi. 23 ‘What was your crowd?’..‘East Kents. 8th Battalion.’ |
e. Colloq. phr. to pass (muster) in a crowd, not to fall so short of the standard as to be noticed; not to be conspicuously below the average (freq. with the implication of mediocrity).
| 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 Feb. (1948) I. 185 Will she pass in a crowd? Will she make a figure in a country church? 1846 R. Ford Gatherings from Spain ix. 94 The rider's..great object should be to pass in a crowd, either unnoticed, or to be taken for ‘one of us’. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxvi. 259 They were mighty particular. You would pass muster in a crowd, Phil! |
3. transf. and fig. a. A great number of things crowded together, either in fact or in contemplation; a large collection, multitude.
| 1627 Sanderson 12 Serm. (1637) 511 In the croude of their vnknowne sinnes. 1728 N. Salmon in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 361 Amongst such a crowd of Advertisements. 1855 E. Forbes Lit. Papers i. 9 A crowd of new thoughts occupies..their minds. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. App. 704 It is signed by a crowd of names. |
b. Naut. crowd of sail: an unusual number of sails hoisted for the sake of speed; a press of sail.
| 1803 Phil. Trans. XCIII. 312 The holes being pressed under water by a crowd of sail on the ship. 1846 Raikes Life of Brenton 124 Several sail of the line appeared off Europa point under a crowd of sail. |
4. Comb., as crowd-control, crowd-mind, crowd-morality, crowd-panic, crowd-pleaser, crowd-poison, crowd-poisoning (see quot.), crowd-psychology, crowd-suggestion; crowd-drawing, crowd-pleasing, crowd-pulling adjs. See also sense 1 c and cf. mass n.2
| 1966 Truth (Brisbane) 9 Oct. 41/6 We call them bouncers but the U.S. has another term for those beefy bar room keepers of the peace. They are called *crowd control engineers. 1971 Times 4 Jan. 1/3 The debate about crowd control and safety at football stadiums. |
| 1848 J. R. Lowell Fable for Critics 37 He has faith... And this is what makes him the *crowd-drawing preacher. |
| 1923 H. G. Wells Men Like Gods iii. ii. 265 Crowds and the *crowd-mind have gone for ever. |
| 1915 A. C. Curtis (title) Politics and *crowd-morality, a study in the philosophy of politics. |
| 1906 Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 2/2 Fewer processions with banners, fewer *crowd-panics. |
| 1943 Gen 16 Jan. 30/1 An up-and-coming fighter is a tearaway chap, a real *crowd-pleaser. |
| 1962 Times 26 Feb. (Canada Suppl.) p. xvi/4 One of the biggest *crowd-pleasing sports in Canada is the rough and tumble stock car racing. |
| 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. vii. 197 A peculiar subtle emanation from the human body..which is called *crowd-poison. |
| 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Crowd-poisoning, the bad condition of health produced by overcrowding of people in a house or houses. |
| 1924 W. B. Selbie Psychol. Relig. 204 The whole subject [sc. conversion] is an interesting branch of the study of *crowd psychology. |
| 1955 Keepnews & Grauer Pict. Hist. Jazz ii. 22 Brown..turned the term into a *crowd-pulling asset by billing his group as ‘Brown's Dixieland Jass Band’. |
| 1924 W. B. Selbie Psychol. Relig. 157 The whole thing comes from *crowd suggestion. |
▪ IV. crowd, v.1
(kraʊd)
Forms: 1 cr{uacu}dan, 3 crude, 4–6 croude, 4–7 crowde, 7–9 croud, 7– crowd.
[OE. cr{uacu}dan, 3 sing. cr{yacu}deþ, pa. tense créad, pl. *crudon, pa. pple. *croden, an original strong v. (ablaut-series kreud-, kraud-, krud-), not known in the early stages of the other langs., but represented by MDu. cr{uacu}den to press, push, later kruyden, kruyen (Kilian), Du. kruien to push in a wheel-barrow, to drive, WFris. kroadjen, EFris. krôden, krüden (kröien, krüijen) to push, press, NFris. krode, krojen, MLG. kr{uacu}den, kroden, LG. krüden, krüen, MHG. kroten, kröten to oppress, etc.: see Kroten in Grimm. As in some other verbs of the same ablaut series, the present had in OE. {uacu}, ME. ū, ou, instead of éo. The strong pa. tense crud (from pl.), pl. crodyn (from pa. pple.) were used in ME.; in the pa. pple., crod occurs in 1477, and crowden in 17th c.; but the wk. forms in -ed prevail from 16th c. The word was comparatively rare down to 1600; it does not occur in the Bible of 1611.
The primary sense of ‘press’ (Branch I), has in later Eng. passed into that of the mutual or combined action of multitudes compressed or gathered closely together (II).]
I. To press, push, thrust, shove, etc.
† 1. intr. To press, to exert pressure (on or against).
| a 1000 Riddles iv. 28 Ðonne heah geþring on cleofu crydeþ. c 1300 K. Alis. 609 And saide to that lady, loude, Withhold ! and ageyn croude! |
2. a. intr. To press, drive, or hasten on: said of a ship (or its crew); in later usage, app. treated as elliptical for crowd sail (see 9).
| 937 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.), Créad cnear on flot. a 1300 K. Horn 1293 Þat schup bigan to crude, þe wind him bleu lude. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 703 (4 MSS.) In the same schip..Hire and hir yonge sone..He schulde putte, and crowde fro the londe. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 21 We kept on crouding till Night. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 243 Crowding away to the north, [we] got the start of the English fleet. 1890 W. C. Russell Ocean Trag. I. i. 16 Is it your intention to crowd on to the Cape and await her arrival there? |
b. trans. to crowd (a ship) off.
| 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 16 [He] desired we would use our utmost Endeavours to crowd the Ship off. 1768 J. Byron Narr. Patagonia (ed. 2) 9 We wore ship..and endeavoured to crowd her off from the land. |
c. trans. and intr. To hurry. U.S. colloq.
| 1838 Knickerbocker XII. 506 Well, children, don't crowd the old man so; give him time. a 1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) v. 43, I might perhaps make it a new story; but I crowd on now to the proper spot where this drama is to be enacted. Ibid. xix. 169 He crowded on, more desperately..as a lover rides for love. 1876 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. III. 627 He is for ever crowding and rushing, so as to get some particular piece of work done by such a time. |
† 3. trans. To press (anything), to move by pressure, to push, shove; spec. to push in a wheel-barrow or hand-cart. (Also absol.) Also, to push back, down (also fig.). Obs. exc. dial.
| c 1330 Amis & Amil. 1861 Than Amoraunt crud Sir Amiloun Thurch mani a cuntre, vp and doun. Ibid. 1883 He crud his wain into the fen. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 801 (Ellesm.) But in the same ship..Hire and hir yonge sone..He sholde putte and croude hire fro the lond. 14.. ABC Poem 54 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 245 Cananis hym crodyn to heroudis kyng, Þer had he gret scornyng. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 105 Crowde wythe a barow, cinevecto. Crowdyn', or showen, impello. 1477 Marg. Paston in Paston Lett. No. 809 III. 215 Sche sent..word..that sche xuld come hedyr..thoow sche xuld be crod in a barwe. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 123 Whence 'tis, that I can crowd a bigger body than I can throw. 1710 J. Clarke Rohault's Nat. Phil. (1729) I. 97 Those little Columns of Water which are longer than the other..will never leave crouding them up, till the surface of the Liquor is come to a Level. 1830 Massachusetts Spy 14 July (Th.), He was carting timber, and stepped upon the cart tongue to crowd some sticks back with his feet. 1847 Halliwell, Crowd, to wheel about. Norf. 1874 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 732 You are crowding him down to a gold basis. Ibid. 764 The excavation was..stopped upon a clean pebbly bottom, into which an iron bar could be crowded down its length. 1880 G. W. Cable Grandissimes xl. 318 He crowded his hat fiercely down over his curls and plunged out. |
4. intr. To push, or force one's way into a confined space, through a crowd, etc.; to press forward, up, etc. Now only fig., as in quot. 1858, and coloured by 5.
| a 1415 Lydg. Temple of Glass 534 Within þe tempil me þouȝte þat I sey Gret pres of folk..To croude and shove—þe tempil was so ful. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 347 Then he burst his Head, for crowding among the Marshals men. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 99 Throngs of thoughts crowde for their passage. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 138 It cannot stir without asking another bodies leave to crowd by. 1687 A. Farmer in Magd. Coll. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 72 He crowded into a Dancing Room. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. xii. 119 The great maternal instinct came crowding up in her soul. |
II. Senses in which the notion of physical compression or mutual pressure gradually changes into that of the incommoding effect: cf. throng.
5. intr. Of persons, etc. in numbers: To press toward a common centre, to gather or congregate closely so as to press upon one another; to come or assemble in large numbers or crowds; to flock, throng. With many advbs. and preps., e.g. to crowd in; about, after (a person); into, to, upon (a place or thing). Also fig.
| a 1400 Pist. Susan 83 On croppus of canel keneliche þei croude. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 70 Men to vs thick crouded. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 408 People not being so hasty to crowde in, or justle them out of these Quarters. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 409 Multitudes of people crowded to his sermons. 1709 Berkeley Th. Vision §110 There croud into his mind the ideas which [etc.]. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. 14 Sept., The company crowded away in such confusion, that I was almost squeezed to death. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. lvii. 232 The Macedonians crowded about him. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 197 Suspicions and alarms crowd upon him. |
6. trans. a. To press, thrust, force, cram (things) in, or into a confined space; † to compress (air, etc.). Also to press (things) in numbers on a person. Also fig.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 200 The poore Mechanicke Porters, crowding in Their heauy burthens at his narrow gate. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 23 A man into whom nature hath so crowded humors. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 326 We may heare crowd in an Example to be found in the same Book of Justin. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxvii. (1682) 107 A quantity of Air crouded and shut up. 1691 E. Taylor Behmen's Aurora i. 242 Heat consumeth the Water, cold crowdeth the Air. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 122 Nor have I room to crowd many of these things into this account. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 138 Take the utmost Precautions to have..every Thing necessary to crowd in your stuffing. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 504 In revolutions men live fast: the experience of years is crowded into hours. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxv. 248 Myouk is crowding fresh presents of raw birds on me. |
b. To compress; to collect, bring, or pack closely together, as in a crowd.
| 1612 Proc. Virginia vi. in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) 119 The rest..crowded in so small a barge, in so many dangers. 1653 Holcroft Procopius i. 29 The people being crouded together. 1746 Jortin Chr. Relig. vi. (R.), It would not have entered into their thoughts to have crowded together so many allusions. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants II. 360 Aristolochia Clematitis..flowers crowded, in the bosom of the leaf-stalks. 1881 Jowett Thucyd. I. Introd. 15 A strong individuality..which crowds the use of words, which thinks more than it can express. Mod. We were standing crowded together before the picture. |
† c. To compress (a single thing) in a narrow space; to confine. Obs.
| c 1632 Poem in Athenæum No. 2883. 121/3 Doe nott thou presume To crowd the Founder in a narrow Tombe. 1672 Dryden Conq. Granada iii. i. 122 Why will you in your Breast your Passion croud. 1707 Collier Refl. Ridic. 249 They are crowded and wrapt up in themselves. |
† d. To compress, crush, squeeze to death in a crowd. Also fig. Obs.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 34 The Time (mis-order'd) doth..Crowd vs, and crush vs, to this monstrous Forme. 1598 Stow Surv. v. (1603) 25 Many persons were crowded to death. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 17/1 Great numbers..were crowded to death. 1786 Sir H. Croft Abbey of Kilkh. 99 He was crowded to death with honours. |
7. a. To fill or occupy with a crowd or dense multitude; to fill to excess or encumbrance; to cram with.
| 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth ii. (1723) 120, I shall not crowd this Piece with them. 1715 Pope Pref. to Homer (Seager), This [subject] he has..crowded with a greater number of councils, speeches, battles, and episodes of all kinds. 1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port. cxv, The roads were crouded with little saints and altars. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 597 A port crowded with shipping. |
b. To fill as a crowd does, to throng (a place). (The passive of result is to be crowded with as in a.; the passive of action to be crowded by.)
| 1646 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (ed. 3) A iv, They run after these men..crowding the Churches, filling their doors and windows. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 316 They crowd his Levees, and support his Throne. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, III. viii. 119 A court crouded with armed men. 1883 Daily News 30 Oct. 5/3 The trains were crowded by Exhibition visitors. 1884 Church Bacon i. 20 The servile and insincere flatterers..who crowded the antechambers of the great Queen. |
c. To press upon or beset (a person or place) as a crowd does, to surround, encumber, incommode by pressure of numbers, to crowd upon; also to occupy or encumber with a multitude of things.
| 1614 W. B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) A ij b, Resort shall croud him wheresoere he dwell. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 579 The Men..crowd the chearful Fire. a 1735 Granville (J.), Why will vain courtiers toil, And crowd a vainer monarch for a smile? 1741 Johnson Life Morin, A man of this temper was not crouded with salutations. 1783 ― Lett. to Mrs. Thrale 27 Dec., I am crowded with visits. 1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. i. 36 Get away from this. Don't crowd a fellow. Go to a rock of your own. 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage iii. 40 ‘Crowding’ and ‘upstaging’ are tricks of the selfish actor. To ‘crowd’ is to stand just close enough to another actor to prevent his making any gesture freely. 1963 ‘J. Le Carré’ Spy who came in fr. Cold vi. 44 They crowded him in the dinner queue. Crowding is a prison ritual akin to the eighteenth-century practice of jostling. It has the virtue of an apparent accident, in which the prisoner's mess tin is upturned, and its contents spilt on his uniform. |
† d. Said of things: To press upon (one another) in a crowd. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 65 Frettings and gallings happens to Trees that thrust and croud one another. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Crowd v., to push, shove or press close. To the word, in its common acceptation, number seems necessary. With us, one individual can crowd another. [And so in U.S. (F. Hall).] |
e. U.S. colloq. ‘To urge; to press by solicitation; to dun’ (Webster 1828).
f. to crowd the mourners: to exercise undue pressure; to push or hurry in an unseemly manner. U.S. colloq.
| 1842 Spirit of Times XII. 426 In the second mile, however, Fashion commenced ‘crowding the mourners’ by brushing down both straight sides. 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters xix. 282, I don't want to crowd the mourners at your end of the line. 1923 Dialect Notes V. 205 Keep ca'm now, an' don't crowd the mourners. |
g. To approach (a specified age) closely; to verge on. U.S. colloq.
| 1943 Newsweek 22 Nov. 52 Reynolds, now crowding 60, would disclose no plans last week. 1960 Guardian 5 May 9/6 Groucho is crowding 70, though not very hard. 1961 F. Crane Reluctant Sleuth iv. 33 Bobo's maybe twenty-five. George is crowding sixty. 1969 Guardian 18 Aug. 9/6 Mae West..confessed to ‘crowding sixty’. |
8. crowd out: to push or force out by pressure of a crowd (obs.); to exclude by crowding, or because the crowd is more than the space can hold.
| 1652 D. Osborne Lett. (1888) 30 'Tis very possible the next new experiment may crowd me out again. 1684–90 Burnet Th. Earth (J.), According as it [the sea] can make its way into all those subterraneous cavities, and crowd the air out of them. 1841–44 Emerson Ess. Over-Soul Wks. (Bohn) I. 111 [The] cuckoo Crowds every egg out of the nest. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lxxiv. 615 They crowd out better men. 1889 Morning Post 24 June 2/1 Works sent to the Royal Academy and crowded out. |
9. Naut. to crowd sail: to hoist an unusual number of sails on a ship; to carry a press of sail for the purpose of speed.
The phrase appears to be derived from sense 2 by confusion or association with the common mod. sense.
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2251/4 They crowded all the Sail they could possible make after us. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 112 In crowding Sail to come up with her. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sport. & Adv. Scotl. xiii. (1855) 119 Canvass was crowded on the Clorinde. |
▪ V. † crowd, v.2 Obs.
Also croud.
[f. crowd n.1]
intr. To play the crowd; to fiddle.
| 1589 Peele Eclogue 21 Thou art too crank, and crowdest all too high. 1599 Middleton & Rowley Old Law v. i, Fiddlers, crowd on, crowd on. 1693 Southerne Maid's last Prayer iv. iii, The Knight crowds most splendidly. |
▪ VI. † crowd, v.3 Obs.
Also 8 croud.
[Cf. crood, crout.]
1. intr. To crow, as a cock.
| 1575 J. Still Gamm. Gurton ii. ii, Her cock with the yellow legs, that nightly crowded so just. 1752 in Scots Mag. Aug. (1753) 401/1 The black cocks were crouding. |
2. Variant of croud, crood Sc., to coo.