crew

1 of 3

chiefly British past tense of crow

crew

2 of 3

noun

1
archaic : a band or force of armed men
2
a
: a group of people associated together in a common activity or by common traits or interests
3
a
: a company of people working on one job or under one foreman or operating a machine
b
: the whole company belonging to a ship sometimes including the officers and master
also : one who assists the skipper of a sailboat
c
: the persons who have duties on an aircraft in flight
d
: the rowers and coxswain of a racing shell
also : rowing
crewless adjective

crew

3 of 3

verb

crewed; crewing; crews

intransitive verb

: to act as a member of a crew
Horwitz begins his re-creation of Cook's journeys by crewing on a replica of the Endeavour, Cook's first ship.Robert R. Harris

transitive verb

1
: to serve as a crew member on (a ship, an aircraft, etc.)
Crewing the vessel were three experienced sailors …Ron Arias
2
: to supply (something) with people (as for service)
"… you need to know at least 72 hours beforehand … to fuel and crew the plane, fly the plane over, give the crew enough time to rest," he [Erik Pitkethly] says.Emma Sheppard
Eventually, the production based itself in Stirling and Jankel filmed entirely on location …. The Screen Scotland Screen Commission helped crew the film with a majority Scottish contingent.screendaily.com

Examples of crew in a Sentence

Noun a skilled member of a ship's crew the flight's passengers and crew the ship's captain and crew A construction crew will begin work on the house next week. Verb She spent a couple of years crewing on a British ship. The ship was crewed by 12 men.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Unlike the crew, Henrie, who is reprising his role as Justin Russo for the upcoming spinoff of the Disney Channel classic, can’t laugh as his on-screen son Alkaio Thiele delivers a line back to him with perfect comedic timing. Katie Campione, Deadline, 29 Oct. 2024 The crew would later disband in 2018, with KXNG Crooked and Joell Ortiz teaming up for multiple collaborative projects, including the 2022 album, Rise & Fall of Slaughterhouse. Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 29 Oct. 2024 The crew arrived in the nick of time because the man's sailboat became disabled and began taking on water off the Florida coast in Sanibel Island. Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY, 29 Oct. 2024 There were a total of 943 passengers and 503 crew on board when the Spirit of Discovery, which is operated by Saga Cruises, sailed from Puerto del Rosario in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. Gabrielle Rockson, People.com, 29 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for crew 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crew.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English crue, from Middle French, reinforcement, literally, increase, from crue, feminine past participle of croistre to grow, from Latin crescere — more at crescent

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1900, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of crew was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near crew

Cite this Entry

“Crew.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crew. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

crew

noun
ˈkrü
1
: a group or gathering of people
a happy crew
2
: a group of people working together
the kitchen crew
3
: a group of people who operate a ship, train, or airplane
4
: the rowers and coxswain of a racing shell

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