crew

¹

[kroo]

noun

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.

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

[kroo]

verb

1. a simple past tense of crow.

crew

¹

/ 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

verb

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

crew

²

/ kruː /

verb

1. a past tense of crow 2

Grammar Note

See collective noun.

Other Word Forms

• crewless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of crew¹

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; crescent

Word History and Origins

Origin of crew¹

C15 crue (military) reinforcement, from Old French creue augmentation, from Old French creistre to increase, from Latin crescere

Example Sentences

Fire crews were called to a property in Barking Road on Tuesday after two adults, the infant and a six-year-old attended hospital complaining about a smell of chemicals in a flat in Upton Park, Newham.

Read more on BBC

On a recent visit, a crew was operating a purpose-built rig that can stack up to 30,000 feet of pipe, the length needed to drill some of the deeper wells.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Some nights, there are only one or two guests, and those guests typically see no hotel employees, because there’s no lobby and the staff is down to a skeleton crew.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Mather said the city’s homelessness crisis is deeply intertwined with its trash problem, with sanitation crews facing limits on the removal of objects that might be someone’s property.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Last week, construction crews tore down part of the White House to build a new ballroom.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

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

When To Use

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.