Library / English Dictionary

CREW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An organized group of workmen

Synonyms:

crew; gang; work party

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("crew" is a kind of...):

social unit; unit (an organization regarded as part of a larger social group)

Meronyms (members of "crew"):

crewman (a member of a work crew)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crew"):

shift (a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time)

detail (a crew of workers selected for a particular task)

chain gang (a gang of convicts chained together)

ground-service crew; ground crew (the crew of technicians and mechanics who service aircraft on the ground)

road gang (a gang of road workers)

section gang (a work crew assigned to a section of a railroad)

stage crew (crew of workers who move scenery or handle properties in a theatrical production)

Holonyms ("crew" is a member of...):

hands; manpower; men; work force; workforce (the force of workers available)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The men and women who man a vehicle (ship, aircraft, etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("crew" is a kind of...):

social unit; unit (an organization regarded as part of a larger social group)

Meronyms (members of "crew"):

co-pilot; copilot (a relief pilot on an airplane)

crew member; crewman (a member of a flight crew)

submariner (a member of the crew of a submarine)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crew"):

air crew; aircrew (the crew of an aircraft)

merchant marine (the crew of a merchant vessel)

Holonyms ("crew" is a member of...):

company; ship's company (crew of a ship including the officers; the whole force or personnel of a ship)

Derivation:

crew (serve as a crew member on)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The team of men manning a racing shell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("crew" is a kind of...):

squad; team (a cooperative unit (especially in sports))

Derivation:

crew (serve as a crew member on)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An informal body of friends

Example:

he still hangs out with the same crowd

Synonyms:

bunch; crew; crowd; gang

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("crew" is a kind of...):

assemblage; gathering (a group of persons together in one place)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Serve as a crew member on

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "crew" is one way to...):

man (provide with workers)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

crew (the men and women who man a vehicle (ship, aircraft, etc.))

crew (the team of men manning a racing shell)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Too much ’Frisco tanglefoot for the health of my crew!” Wolf Larsen shouted after. “This one”—indicating me with his thumb—“fancies sea-serpents and monkeys just now!”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Some of the Slovaks tell us that a big boat passed them, going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

We were indeed a sorry crew, and I did not wonder to see our Indian companions glance back at us occasionally with horror and amazement on their faces.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If it's fine, I'm going to pitch my tent in Longmeadow, and row up the whole crew to lunch and croquet—have a fire, make messes, gypsy fashion, and all sorts of larks.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

One man, referring to the topic they had been discussing, asked me whether I thought the souls of the collier-crews who had gone down, were out in the storm?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The crew had thought she would founder and had made for the Norwegian coast in the dinghy.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In a new investigation, crew members of the International Space Station will grow two batches of worms: one in microgravity and one in a centrifuge, allowing the worms to experience simulated gravity.

(Roundworms have the Right Stuff, NASA)

Next morning I had the pleasure of encountering him; left a bullet in one of his poor etiolated arms, feeble as the wing of a chicken in the pip, and then thought I had done with the whole crew.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A youth passed in solitude, my best years spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage, has so refined the groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste to the usual brutality exercised on board ship: I have never believed it to be necessary, and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his services.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As a comparative reference, the researchers also obtained data gathered by the crew of the HMS Challenger—they had taken Pacific Ocean temperatures down to a depth of two kilometers during the years 1872 to 1876.

(Bottom of Pacific Found to Be Getting Colder, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)