Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The following month the same newspaper was crowing:
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025
While Rodgers was crowing about Green Bay’s four-game late-season winning streak — after a horrendous 4-8 start — he didn’t really have all that much to do with it besides at best managing games.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 14, 2023
T-Mobile and Sprint aren't helped by the fact that each company was crowing just a few months ago that they looked forward to being 5G leaders.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2018
Even as recently as June, defensive coordinator Phil Bennett was crowing to alums that Ukwuachu would take the field this year - after sitting out Baylor’s last season for undisclosed issues.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 25, 2015
This went on for a long time, so that even though I didn’t want to, I fell asleep, and next thing, a rooster was crowing and I woke up next to Delsa.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
