Showing results for "crew"

• past participle of crow.
• past tense form of crow.

crew

¹ American  

[kroo] / kru /

noun

crews plural

1. a group of persons involved in a particular kind of work or working together.

   the crew of a train;

   a wrecking crew.

2. Nautical.

   1. the people who sail or operate a ship or boat.

   2. the common sailors of a ship's company.

   3. a particular gang of a ship's company.

3. the people who fly or operate an aircraft or spacecraft.

4. the team that rows a racing shell.

   varsity crew.

5. the sport of racing with racing shells.

   He went out for crew in his freshman year.

6. a company; crowd.

   He and his crew of friends filled the room.

7. any force or band of armed men.

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verb (used with object)

1. to serve as a member of a crew on (a ship, aircraft, etc.).

2. to obtain or employ a crew for (a ship, aircraft, etc.).

verb (used without object)

1. to serve as a member of a crew.

crew ² American  

[kroo] / kru /

verb

1. a simple past tense of crow.

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crew ¹ British  

/ kruː /

noun

1. the men who man a ship, boat, aircraft, etc

2. nautical a group of people assigned to a particular job or type of work

3. informal a gang, company, or crowd

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verb

1. to serve on (a ship) as a member of the crew

crew ² British  

/ kruː /

verb

1. a past tense of crow 2

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Usage

What is a basic definition of crew? A crew is a group of people who work together. Crew can also be used more generally to mean any crowd of people or as a verb to mean to serve as a member of a crew. Crew has a few other senses as a noun and a verb. The word crew is mostly interchangeable with words like team, squad, or gang. However, crew is the specific term used to mean a cooperative group of people that operates a boat, an airplane, or a spacecraft. In any case, a crew usually has a person who is the leader or the captain. The word crewmember or crewman refers to a single individual within the crew.

• Real-life examples: Boats are operated by a crew of sailors, airplanes are operated by pilots and the rest of the flight crew, and spacecraft are operated by a crew of astronauts. A building might be destroyed by a wrecking crew. A dance crew performs in front of people. Race cars are fixed by pit crews.
• Used in a sentence: The boat was attacked by Captain Kidd and his crew of pirates. 

In this same sense, crew is used as a verb to mean to be a member of a crew.

• Used in a sentence: I have crewed over a dozen boats since I became a sailor. 

Crew can also be generally used to mean any group or crowd of people.

• Used in a sentence: I bought drinks for Jayden and his crew of friends. 

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• crewless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• crews
  plural

Etymology

Origin of crew

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English crewe “augmentation,” hence “reinforcements, body of soldiers,” from Middle French creue, literally, “an increase,” noun use of feminine of Old French creu “grown, increased,” past participle of creistre “to grow,” from Latin crēscere; see crescent

Explanation

A crew is an organized group of workers. A crew might keep a ship sailing smoothly or pave a road smoothly. Either way, crew implies cooperation among workers. If you're hired as a member of a ship's crew, it will be your job (along with the other crew members), to keep the boat running smoothly, and the passengers happy and well-fed. Crews are usually a group of people who work together on a ship, airplane, or movie — but the word is also a slang term for a group of friends who hang out together — like a crowd or posse.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crew crews

“My work has to do with recycling,” she told a documentary crew in the 1970s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026

After completing medical evaluations at the landing site, the crew members will travel by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, where recovery teams are stationed.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026

If the “Five-Star” crew were to meet “Ride or Die” duo Debbie and Judith at a pub, they’d have war stories to swap.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

The grounds crew let the grass grow out more than usual to start to get the coloring to fade, an employee said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

We stole past, keeping well out of the way of the film crew, then went by even more sets before we came out the other end of the warehouse.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Going through the building's cavernous basement – which once housed two restaurants – crews found fragments of a wooden, revolving door dating back to the 1910s.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

"Go home, please," officers told participants as the crowd streamed away from the park, where emergency crews rushed to treat victims.

From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026

On farms, harvest crews can start at 2 a.m. and work throughout the day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Earlier in the week, as crews were finalizing roadwork, they discovered a pinhole-sized leak in a pipe, temporarily pausing street repairs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

“Can the crews still work? I’d hate for them to lose money.”

From "Lawn Boy Returns" by Gary Paulsen

Related Words

• band
• company
• corps
• crowd
• gang
• squad
• team
• troop