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crowd.

To press forward; to advance by pushing.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈkɹaʊ̯d/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯d]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹæʊ̯d/[ˈkʰɹʷæʊ̯d]
  1. To press forward; to advance by pushing.

    intransitive
    The man crowded into the packed room.
  2. To press together or collect in numbers.

    intransitive
    They crowded through the archway and into the park.
  3. To press or drive together, especially into a small space; to cram.

    transitive
    He tried to crowd too many cows into the cow-pen.
  4. To fill by pressing or thronging together

    transitive
  5. To push, to press, to shove.

    often · transitive
    They tried to crowd her off the sidewalk.
  6. To approach another ship too closely when it has right of way.

  7. To carry excessive sail in the hope of moving faster.

    transitive
  8. To press by solicitation; to urge; to dun; hence, to treat discourteously or unreasonably.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *grewt-der. Proto-Germanic *krūdaną Proto-West Germanic *krūdan Old English crūdan Middle English crouden English crowd From Middle English crouden, from Old English crūdan, from Proto-West Germanic *krūdan, from Proto-Germanic *krūdaną, *kreudaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *grewt- (“to push; press”). Cognate with German Low German kroden (“to push, shove”), Dutch kruien (“to push, shove”). (group of people, mob): Compare typologically throng (<<~ Proto-Germanic *þrinhwaną); Czech dav (akin to Russian дави́ть (davítʹ), да́вка (dávka)); Polish ciżba, ścisk (<~ ciskać, akin to ти́скать (tískatʹ)); Polish tłok, Russian толчея́ (tolčejá) (akin to толка́ть (tolkátʹ)).

noun/ˈkɹaʊ̯d/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯d]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹæʊ̯d/[ˈkʰɹʷæʊ̯d]
  1. A group of people congregated or collected into a close body without order.

    After the movie let out, a crowd of people pushed through the exit doors.
  2. Several things collected or closely pressed together; also, some things adjacent to each other.

    There was a crowd of toys pushed beneath the couch where the children were playing.
  3. The so-called lower orders of people; the populace; the vulgar.

    with-definite-article
  4. A group of people united or at least characterised by a common interest.

    That obscure author's fans were a nerdy crowd which hardly ever interacted before the Internet age.
    We're concerned that our daughter has fallen in with a bad crowd.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *grewt-der. Proto-Germanic *krūdaną Proto-West Germanic *krūdan Old English crūdan Middle English crouden English crowd From Middle English crouden, from Old English crūdan, from Proto-West Germanic *krūdan, from Proto-Germanic *krūdaną, *kreudaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *grewt- (“to push; press”). Cognate with German Low German kroden (“to push, shove”), Dutch kruien (“to push, shove”). (group of people, mob): Compare typologically throng (<<~ Proto-Germanic *þrinhwaną); Czech dav (akin to Russian дави́ть (davítʹ), да́вка (dávka)); Polish ciżba, ścisk (<~ ciskać, akin to ти́скать (tískatʹ)); Polish tłok, Russian толчея́ (tolčejá) (akin to толка́ть (tolkátʹ)).

noun/ˈkɹaʊ̯d/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯d]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹæʊ̯d/[ˈkʰɹʷæʊ̯d]
  1. Alternative form of crwth.

    alt-of · alternative · obsolete
  2. A fiddle.

    dialectal
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English crowde, from Welsh crwth or a Celtic cognate.

verb/ˈkɹaʊ̯d/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰɹʷaʊ̯d]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈkɹæʊ̯d/[ˈkʰɹʷæʊ̯d]
  1. To play on a crowd; to fiddle.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English crowde, from Welsh crwth or a Celtic cognate.

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Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.