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.
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
Despite his age, the pensioner is also partial to a bit of Pilates, and recently mastered the "crow" pose.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Most microraptors were quite small, with some species reaching only about the size of a crow.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
Its 1.6% yield isn’t anything to crow about, but it still beats the S&P 500’s 1.1%.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
And yet here is Aimee Polloch, my friend since first grade, marching through our front door as loud as a summer crow.
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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
She’s continued to develop her chops at the Crow, the Comedy Store and the Improv.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Kelly Crow is a staff reporter covering the art market for The Wall Street Journal and a contributing editor for WSJ.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Mary Porter is worried by the Supreme Court's ruling and says "we don't want those kind of laws, Jim Crow laws, to come back"
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
“Seven, you should write an article for the Squawking Crow about that. I think a lot of witches would agree with you.”
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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
“Welcome to Fobes Ranch… a truly extraordinary piece of California mountain history,” the listing crows.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
Some live-capture traps are permitted for pest control of species like crows and pigeons, but traps must be checked regularly and non-target species released unharmed.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
At one point Neriya and her companions are ushered into the sanctum sanctorum of a corvid roost, where thousands if not millions of crows coexist in sophisticated collaboration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Todd crows as he hands them to her.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
“I told them, guys, they are going to kill us,” she said, and ordered her crew to retreat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
The talks are a turnaround for a ship that posed risks to crew members on a 2024 flight to the International Space Station.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Perea and his crew hope to eventually try making some themselves, as an in-house project rather than a commercial one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Perea’s crew works out of a large metal shed at the far end of a parking lot, a shop they affectionately call “the Oasis.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
All I wanted was to be on a threshing crew, to be in the stubble fields on crisp mornings like the dawn of creation.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
“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
When Eric Schmidt, speaking last week to the University of Arizona’s graduates, rhapsodized about the coming artificial-intelligence revolution, some in the crowed jeered.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Ada Carrillo, one of the devout who crowed the basilica this week, said she unites all of Mexico, transcending political, geographic and class divides.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
"So much for being isolated," crowed the tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets earlier this week.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025
Nearby, a rooster crowed, and Penelope stifled a yawn as she slipped unnoticed through the door.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
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
It was first to publicly announce an end to the exchange with Israel and avoided crowing about the downing of the Apache as it had when other American aircraft were shot down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 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
For all his crowing about his money and showing off, he really didn’t put on airs.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2025
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
