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crow

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crow

1  [kroh]
Use crow in a Sentence
–noun
1. 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.
2. any of several other birds of the family Corvidae.
3. any of various similar birds of other families.
4. (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Corvus.
5. crowbar (def. 1).
—Idioms
6. 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.
7. eat crow, Informal. 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.
8. have a crow to pick or pluck with someone, Midland and Southern U.S. to have a reason to disagree or argue with someone.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME crowe, OE crāwe, crāwa; c. OHG krāwa; akin to D kraai, G Krähe
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crow

2  [kroh] verb, crowed or, for 1, (especially British), crew; crowed; crow⋅ing; noun
–verb (used without object)
1. to utter the characteristic cry of a rooster.
2. to gloat, boast, or exult (often fol. by over).
3. to utter an inarticulate cry of pleasure, as an infant does.
–noun
4. the characteristic cry of a rooster.
5. an inarticulate cry of pleasure.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME crowen, OE crāwan; c. D kraaien, G krähen; see crow 1

Related forms:
crower, noun
crow⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
2. vaunt, brag.

Crow

  [kroh]
–noun
1. a member of a Siouan people of eastern Montana.
2. a Siouan language closely related to Hidatsa.
Origin:
1795–1805; trans. of North American F (gens des) Corbeaux Raven (people), literal trans. of Crow apsá˙loke a Crow Indian

crow⋅bar

  [kroh-bahr] noun, verb (used with object), -barred, -bar⋅ring.
–noun
1. Also called crow. a steel bar, usually flattened and slightly bent at one or both ends, used as a lever.
–verb (used with object)
2. to pry open, loosen, etc., with a crowbar: We had to crowbar a window to get in.
Origin:
1740–50, Americanism; crow 1 + bar 1 ; so called because one end was beak-shaped
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To crow
Cor·vus   (kôr'vəs)   
n.  A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Crater and Virgo. Also called Crow2.

[Latin corvus, raven.]
crow 1   (krō)   
n.  

  1. Any of several large glossy black birds of the genus Corvus, having a characteristic raucous call, especially C. brachyrhynchos of North America.

  2. A crowbar.


[Middle English croue, from Old English crāwe; see gerə-2 in Indo-European roots. Sense 2, from the resemblance of its forked end to a crow's foot or beak.]
crow 2   (krō)   
intr.v.   crowed, crow·ing, crows

  1. To utter the shrill cry characteristic of a cock or rooster.

  2. To exult loudly, as over another's defeat; boast. See Synonyms at boast1.

  3. To make a sound expressive of pleasure or well-being, characteristic of an infant.

n.  

  1. The shrill cry of a cock.

  2. An inarticulate sound expressive of pleasure or delight.


[Middle English crouen, from Old English crāwan; see gerə-2 in Indo-European roots.]
Crow 1   (krō)   
n.   pl. Crow or Crows In both senses also called Absaroke.

    1. A Native American people formerly inhabiting an area of the northern Great Plains between the Platte and Yellowstone rivers, now located in southeast Montana. The Crow became nomadic buffalo hunters after migrating west from the Missouri River in North Dakota in the 18th century.

    2. A member of this people.

  2. The Siouan language of the Crow.

Crow 2   (krō)   
n.  See Corvus.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

crow  (n.)
O.E. crawe, imitative of bird's cry. Phrase eat crow is probably based on the notion that the bird is edible when boiled but hardly agreeable; first attested 1851, Amer.Eng., but said to date to War of 1812 (Walter Etecroue turns up 1361 in the Calendar of Letter Books of the City of London). Crow's foot "wrinkle around the corner of the eye" is c.1374. Crowbar (c.1400) is either from resemblance to a crow's foot or possibly from crows, from O.Fr. cros, pl. of croc "hook." Phrase as the crow flies first recorded 1800. The Crow Indian tribe of the American Midwest is a rough translation of their own name, Apsaruke.

crow  (v.)
O.E. crawian "make a loud noise like a crow;" sense of "exult in triumph" is 1522, perhaps in part because the English crow is a carrion-eater.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

crow

In addition to the idiom beginning with crow, also see as the crow flies; eat crow.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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