Etymology From Middle English crue, from Old French creue (“an increase, recruit, military reinforcement”), the feminine past participle of creistre (“grow”), from Latin crescere (“to arise, grow”).
Obsolete Any company of people; an assemblage; a throng.
There a noble crew / Of Lordes and Ladies stood on every side.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 7:
Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew?1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
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A group of people (often staff) manning and operating a large facility or piece of equipment such as a factory, ship, boat, airplane, or spacecraft.
If you need help, please contact a member of the crew.
He saw now clearly that the sole crew of the vessel was these two dead men, and though he could not see their faces, he saw by their outstretched hands, which were all of ragged flesh, that they had been subjected to some strange exceptional process of decay.1905, H. G. Wells, The Empire of the Ants:
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There's a change of driver halfway at Crianlarich. Glasgow crews bring the 35-year-old Class 156 north, then wait to take over the next train back south. Crews from Mallaig, Oban and Fort William take their trains from the coast to Crianlarich and swap over. There's a tiny rest room on the platform, with a microwave and a sink, while they wait. Some drivers are signed all the way to the city. Most are not.2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, pages 37-38:
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A group of people working together on a task.
The crews competed to cut the most timber.
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Art, Arts 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.
Derogatory, Often A set of individuals lumped together by the speaker.
1861 William Weston Patton, (version of) John Brown's Body He 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.1950, Bernard Nicholas Schilling, Conservative England and the Case Against Voltaire, page 266:
And Jay cuts the records every day of the week / And we are the crew that can never be meek1985, “King of Rock”, performed by Run-DMC:
The most popular and critically acclaimed rap and deejay “crews”—Run-D.M.C., Whodini, L.L. Cool J, the Beastie Boys, the Fat Boys, Public Enemy, Full Force, Salt & Pepa, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, Mantronix, U.T.F.O., et al.—were spawned on that city's streets.1988 February 7, Carly Darling, “L.A.—The Second Deffest City of Hip-Hop”, in Los Angeles Times:
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We decided we needed another rapper in the crew and spent months looking.2003, Jennifer Guglielmo, Salvatore Salerno, Are Italians White?, →ISBN, page 150:
In b-boying culture, a group of b-boys or b-girls who dance and battle together are referred to as a crew.2016, Sophy Smith, Hip-Hop Turntablism, Creativity and Collaboration, Routledge, →ISBN, page 10:
[…] mutating into all-star line-ups of emcees spitting hot bars over familiar beats, then to a single crew spitting bars over familiar beats, then eventually to a single crew (or artist) spitting bars over unfamiliar beats.2021, Jehnie I. Burns, Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation, page 138:
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Rowing, Sports 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.1888, W.B. Woodgate, Boating, page 71:
› A person in a crew
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A member of the crew of a vessel or plant.
One crew died in the accident.
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Art, Arts A worker on a dramatic production who is not part of the cast.
There were three actors and six crew on the set.
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Nautical, Transport 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.
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Rowing, SportsUS The sport of competitive rowing.
The University of Virginia belongs to the Atlantic Coast Conference and competes interscholastically in basketball, baseball, crew, cross country, fencing, football, golf, indoor track, lacrosse, polo, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, and wrestling.1973, University of Virginia Undergraduate Record:
Two Andover classmates, Al Wilson and Al Lindley, both went out for crew in our freshman year at Yale.1989, Benjamin Spock, Mary Morgan, Spock on Spock, →ISBN, page 71:
Etymology From Middle English crue, from Old French creue (“an increase, recruit, military reinforcement”), the feminine past participle of creistre (“grow”), from Latin crescere (“to arise, grow”).
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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.
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On 3 Feb 1982 at Podmoscovnoe in the USSR, a Mil Mi-26 heavy-lift helicopter (NATO code-name "Halo"), crewed by G.V. Alfeurov and L.A. Indeyev (co-pilot), lifted a total mass of 6,560 ft.1994, Peter Matthews (editor), The Guinness Book Of Records, 1994, page 340:
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To be a member of a work or production crew.
The film was crewed and directed by students.
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To supply workers or sailors for a crew.
The seafood companies crewed huge trawlers with new fishermen, many of whom were fish-plant workers, since much of the work on board a modern trawler is fish processing.1997, Mark Kurlansky, Cod, page 182:
Steele crewed the boat with men from his own regiment and volunteers from John Wood's detachment.2003, Kirk C. Jenkins, The Battle Rages Higher, →ISBN, page 42: