any of several large oscine birds of the genus Corvus, of the family Corvidae, having a long, stout bill, lustrous black plumage, and a wedge-shaped tail, as the common C. brachyrhynchos, of North America.
any of several other birds of the family Corvidae.
any of various similar birds of other families.
Astronomy. Crow, the constellation Corvus.
have a crow to pick / pluck with someone, to have a reason to disagree or argue with someone.
eat crow, to be forced to admit to having made a mistake, as by retracting an emphatic statement; suffer humiliation.
His prediction was completely wrong, and he had to eat crow.
as the crow flies, in a straight line; by the most direct route.
The next town is thirty miles from here, as the crow flies.
the characteristic cry of a rooster.
an inarticulate cry of pleasure.
a member of a Siouan people of eastern Montana.
a Siouan language closely related to Hidatsa.
any large gregarious songbird of the genus Corvus, esp C. corone (the carrion crow) of Europe and Asia: family Corvidae . Other species are the raven, rook, and jackdaw and all have a heavy bill, glossy black plumage, and rounded wings See also carrion crow
any of various other corvine birds, such as the jay, magpie, and nutcracker
any of various similar birds of other families
offensive an old or ugly woman
short for crowbar
as directly as possible
informal to be forced to do something humiliating
(past tense crowed or crew) to utter a shrill squawking sound, as a cock
(often foll by over) to boast one's superiority
(esp of babies) to utter cries of pleasure
a member of a Native American people living in E Montana
the language of this people, belonging to the Siouan family
First recorded before 900; Middle English crowe, Old English crāwe, crāwa; cognate with Old High German krāwa; akin to Dutch kraai, German Krähe
First recorded before 1000; Middle English crouen, crowen, Old English crāwan; cognate with Dutch kraaien, German krähen; see crow 1
1795–1805; translation of North American French ( gens des ) Corbeaux Raven (people), literal translation of Crow apsá˙loke a Crow Indian
A crow is a large, intelligent, black bird with a loud call. Farmers and gardeners set up "scarecrows" to keep crows away from their seeds and crops. A crow is glossy and dark, a close relation of the raven, and a large group of crows is known as a murder. When a crow caws, you can also say it crows — and another way to crow is to call out with satisfaction about something: "I'm so proud of the award I just want to crow about it all day long!" The Old English root of crow is crawe, which imitates the sound a crow makes.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Grief can present itself in many shapes: a treasured photograph, a love song, a giant black crow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
That’s 28 miles as the crow flies, but our route, with a detour for lunch in Cuyama, swelled the journey to more than 100 miles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Mbappe had left, the three Lamine Yamals had long since shot the crow.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Most microraptors were quite small, with some species reaching only about the size of a crow.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
Somewhere in the woods, a crow called and another answered.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
Crow highlighted Parton's Imagination Library, her literacy programme that sends one free book a month to children from birth to age five, as an example of this philanthropy.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
These are life skills that go beyond comedy, and, since opening the Crow, she has seen the positive, and often life-changing, impact on youth in her camp — over and over again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
One of the best is WSJ.’s own Kelly Crow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Taylor Crow who works in sales says she's "fairly good" at networking as it was something she prioritised at university.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
The book said that the Jim Crow laws, which had been in effect since the 1880s, divided whites and blacks into two separate worlds.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
Made by the stop-motion animation studio behind 2009 hit "Coraline," "Wildwood" follows a young girl who must venture into an enchanted forest after her brother is whisked away by crows.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026
Amid the many animal metaphors that invariably occupy reactions to my predictions, a dominant theme are dogs and crows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Scavenger animals such as possums, red foxes and crows can be exposed to the virus while devouring the carcasses of infected birds.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Her life is saved by one of the crows that she has befriended.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
“Happy birthday, my little Jupey-Jupe!” he crows, stopping to smile as the room fills with the fragrance of Axe Peace body spray.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
All crew on board are Chinese, have no links to Israel, UK or USA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Australia is also sending a Cessna Citation aircraft as a guide plane as well as 20 personnel, including pilots, flight crew and paramedics.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
The pipes in portable washrooms would have frozen, so the production hired extra drivers to shuttle crew to their hotel bathrooms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
A crew specialising in hazardous materials was sent to the scene because of the presence of a lithium-ion battery, although it was not clear whether this was linked to the blaze.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
The Huey landed ahead of them, and two crew members jumped out and met the group.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
“Of course we’re going to do it at Fort Hood,” Hegseth crowed.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Offering a generous 20-foot-wide footprint and spanning 5,000 square feet, this six-bedroom, six-bath residence defines timeless urban sophistication,” the listing crowed.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
In one exchange, Kessler reminded Rapino that he had crowed during a 2011 call that Live Nation was bigger than all the promoters in the world combined.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
"So much for being isolated," crowed the tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets earlier this week.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025
Gloria’s threatened tears vanished immediately and she crowed with delight.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
Mr. Hilton is all for crowing about the size of the state’s economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Foghorn also gets one of the film’s best zingers, crowing that Acme is “a company of family values that values its family of companies.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
But the deal he’s now crowing about ensures only that the U.S and Iran will talk about new nuclear limits.
From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2026
While crowing about its Pentagon projects, IonQ hasn’t highlighted that the majority of them weren’t funded in the last two federal budgets, Wolfpack says.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
But azan rang out, and then the morning sun was falling flat on the rooftops and the roosters were crowing and nothing out of the ordinary happened.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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