| 释义 |
▪ I. crow, n.1|krəʊ|
Forms: 1 crawe, 3–7 crowe, 4– crow, (6 krowe, croo(e, 6–7 croe); north. 3–6 crawe, 5– craw.
[OE. cráwe f., corresp. to OS. krâia, MLG. krâge, krâe, krâ, LG. kraie, kreie, MDu. kraeye, Du. kraai, OHG. chrâwa, chrâja, chrâ, crâwa, crâ, MHG. kræe, krâwe, krâ, Ger. krähe; a WG. deriv. of the vb. crâwan, crâian to crow, q.v.]
1. a. A bird of the genus Corvus; in England commonly applied to the Carrion Crow (Corvus Corone), ‘a large black bird that feeds upon the carcasses of beasts’ (Johnson); in the north of England, Scotland, and Ireland to the Rook, C. frugilegus; in U.S. to a closely allied gregarious species, C. americanus.
a700Epinal Gloss. 241 Cornacula, crauuae. a800Erfurt Gl. 308 Cornix, crauua. a800Corpus Gl. 401 Carula, crauue. Ibid. 538 Cornix, crawe. c1000Spelman Psalms (Trin. MS.) cxlvi. 10 (Bosw.) Se selþ nytenum mete heora, and briddum crawan ciᵹendum hine. a1250Owl & Night. 1130 Pinnuc goldfinch rok ne crowe Ne dar þar never cumen. c1290S. Eng. Leg. i. 437/196 Blake foule..Ase it crowene and rokes weren. 1382Wyclif Gen. viii. 7 Noe..sente out a crow. 1486Bk. St. Albans D ij a, A Roke or a Crow or a Reuyn. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 17 The Priestes take the meete that is left, and geue it to the crowes to eate. 1575Churchyard Chippes (1817) 108 They wysht at home they had bene keping crooes. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 51 Light thickens, and the Crow Makes Wing toth' Rookie Wood. 1766Pennant Zool. (1812) I. 284 Rooks are sociable birds, living in vast flocks: crows go only in pairs. 1817–18Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 210 They keep in flocks, like rooks (called crows in America). 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 68 As the many-winter'd crow that leads the clanging rookery home. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 86 Crow is common to rook and carrion crow alike.
b. fig.
1592Greene Groats-w. Wit Addr., There is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers. a1640Day Peregr. Schol. Wks. (1881) 57 The devill..sends his black Crowe, Anger, to plucke out his ey. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, xxxvi, The Citty Crowes Assemble, and Resolve they would keep out..his ragged rout.
2. With qualifications, as hooded, Kentish, or Royston crow, Corvus Cornix; red-legged crow, C. Graculus; fish crow of America, C. ossifragus or C. caurinus; carrion-crow, etc.; also applied to birds outside the genus or family, as mire crow, sea crow, names for Larus ridibundus; scare crow, the Black Tern (Hydrochelidon nigra); blue crow, a crow-like jay of N. America, Gymnocitta cyanocephala; piping crows, the birds of the sub-family Gymnorhininæ or Streperinæ; and others.
1611Cotgr., Corneille emmentelée, the Winter-crow, whose backe and bellie are of a darke ash-colour: we call her a Royston Crow. 1766Pennant Zool. (1812) I. 286 In England hooded crows are birds of passage. 1844W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. (1855) 326 The Laughing Gull..or Black Head..The inhabitants of Orkney call it the ‘sea crow’; and in some places it is called the ‘mire-crow’. 1875W. McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire, These cliffs are frequented by the Cornish chough or red-legged crow.
3. a. In phrases and proverbial sayings, as as black as a crow, the crow thinks its own bird fairest (or white), etc. a white crow: i.e. a rara avis. to eat (boiled) crow (U.S. colloq.): to be forced to do something extremely disagreeable and humiliating.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 490 So suart so eni crowe amorwe is fot was. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1834 As blak he lay as any cole or crowe. 1513Douglas æneis ix. Prol. 78 The blak craw thinkis hir awin byrdis quhite. 1536Latimer 2nd Serm. bef. Convoc. Wks. I. 40 A proverb much used: ‘An evil crow, an evil egg.’ 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 30 For any chaste liuer to haunt them was a black swan, and a white crowe. 1579Fulke Confut. Sanders 675 He triumpheth like a crow in a gutter. 1621–51Burton Anat. Mel. iii. i. ii. ii. 421 Every Crow thinks her own bird fairest. 1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 98 As fruitful a place, as any the Crow flies over. 1843‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase II. 235 The rara avis—the white crow—a good President. [1851San Francisco Picayune 3 Dec. 1/6, I kin eat a crow, but I'll be darned if I hanker after it.] 1872Daily News 31 July, Both [are]..in the curious slang of American politics, ‘boiled crow’ to their adherents. 1877N. & Q. 5th Ser. VIII. 186/1 A newspaper editor, who is obliged..to advocate ‘principles’ different from those which he supported a short time before, is said to ‘eat boiled crow’. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Lett. (1917) II. 443 Warner and Clark are eating their daily crow in the paper. 1885Mag. Amer. Hist. XIII. 199 ‘To eat crow’ means to recant, or to humiliate oneself. 1930‘E. Queen’ French Powder Myst. xxiv. 196, I should merely be making an ass of myself if I accused someone and then had to eat crow. 1970New Yorker 17 Oct. 39/1, I was going to apologize, eat crow, offer to kiss and make up.
b. to have a crow to pluck or pull (rarely pick) with any one: to have something disagreeable or awkward to settle with him; to have a matter of dispute, or something requiring explanation, to clear up; to have some fault to find with him. Formerly also, to pluck or pull a crow with one or together.
c1460Towneley Myst. xviii. 311 Na, na, abide, we haue a craw to pull. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 91 A wrathfull woman..He that her weddeth hath a crowe to pull. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 83 If a crow help vs in, sirra, wee'll plucke a crow together. 1662Pepys Diary 18 Nov., He and I very kind, but I every day expect to pull a crow with him about our lodgings. 1668R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 159 We have a Crow to pluck with these Fellows, before we part. 1849Tait's Mag. XVI. 385/1 If there be ‘a crow to pluck’ between us and any contemporary, we shall make a clean breast of it at once.
c. as the crow flies, etc.: in a direct line, without any of the détours caused by following the road.
1800Southey Lett. (1856) I. 110 About fifteen miles, the crow's road. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 152 The distance..is upwards of twenty-five miles as the crow flies. 1838Dickens O. Twist xxv, We cut over the fields..straight as the crow flies. 1873F. Hall in Scribner's Monthly VI. 468/2 It was full eight miles, measured by the crow, to the spot.
d. Colloq. phr. stone (or stiffen) the crows: an exclamation of surprise or disgust. Esp. Austral.
1930L. W. Lower Here's Luck xxvii. 242 ‘Stone the crows!’ stormed Stanley. 1934B. Penton Landtakers (1935) ii. iii. 120 ‘Gawd stiffen the crows,’ Bill commented bitterly. 1938J. Moses Nine Miles from Gundagai 82 Stone the crows, what's up, mate? Has Australia got the blues? 1948C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident iv. 46 Cor stone the crows, 'ave a 'eart, young gents. 1953J. C. Trench Docken Dead iii. 46 Cor stone the crows, he thought, this could go on till Christmas.
4. Astron. To southern constellation Corvus, the Raven.
1658in Phillips. 1868Lockyer Heavens (ed. 3) 326 Towards the horizon, are distinguished the Balance, the Crow, and the Cup.
5. a. A bar of iron usually with one end slightly bent and sharpened to a beak, used as a lever or prise; a crow-bar.
a1400St. Erkenwolde 71 in Horstm. Alteng. Leg. Ser. ii. 267 Wyȝt werke-men..Putten prises þer-to..Kaghtene by þe corners wt crowes of yrne. 1458in Turner Dom. Archit. III. 42 Than crafti men for the querry made crowes of yre. 1555Eden Decades 333 Longe crowes of iren to lyfte great burdens. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 80 Well, Ile breake in: go borrow me a crow. 1676Phil. Trans. xi. 755 The Mine-men do often strike such forcible strokes with a great Iron-crow. 1793Smeaton Edystone Lighth. §206 To detach the stone with an iron Crow. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 113 Crows are of various sorts; some are opened at the end, with a claw for drawing nails. 1888Rider Haggard Col. Quaritch xl, Driving the sharp point of the heavy crow into the rubble work.
b. Used as an agricultural tool.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 98 Get crowe made of iron, deepe hole for to make. 1574R. Scot Hop Gard. (1578) 19 Set vp your Poales preparing theyr waye wyth a Crowe of Iron. 1626A. Speed Adam out of E. xv. (1659) 111 About the body of the Trees make many holes with a crow of Iron. 1731–7Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Vitis, Having an iron Crow..a little pointed at the End, they therewith make an Hole directly down.
†6. A grappling hook, a grapnel. Obs. [Cf. corvy, F. corbeau.]
1553Brende Q. Curtius 54 (R.) Certeine instrumentes wherewyth they myght pull downe the workes yt their enemyes made, called Harpagons, and also crowes of iron called Corvi. 1614Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue 110 Having in vain summon'd the Town; he..Brings here his Fly-Bridge, there his batt'ring Crow. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 150 Iron Wolves and Crows to graspe the Ram withall. 1727–51Chambers Cycl., Crow, in the sea-language, a machine with an iron hook, for fastening hold, and grappling with the enemies vessel. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. V. liii. 34 Their siege-apparatus consisted of ladders with ‘craws’ or clamps of iron to catch the angles of the trap-rock.
†7. An ancient kind of door-knocker. Obs. [med.L. cornix, Erasmus Colloq., Puerpera.]
1579Churchw. Acc. Stanford in Antiquary Apr. (1888) 171 For..mending ye perchell and the Crowe. a1632E. Fairfax Eclogue iv. (in E. Cooper Muses Libr.), Now clad in white I see my porter-crow. 1637N. Whiting Albino & Bell. 22 Who..Knockt at the wicket with the iron crow To whose small neck white phillets here were tyde Which in more ancient dayes did child-bed show. 1846R. Chambers Tradit. Edin. 200 Hardly one specimen of the pin, crow, or ringle now survives in the Old Town.
8. a. Thieves' slang. One who keeps watch while another steals.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) iv. 286 (Farmer) If anyone should be near, the ‘crow’ gives a signal, and they decamp. 1862Cornh. Mag. VI. 648 (Farmer) Occasionally they [women] assist at a burglary—remaining outside and keeping watch; they are then called crows.
b. N.Z., colloq. A person who pitches sheaves to the stacker.
1888J. Bradshaw N.Z. of To-day ix. 171 When harvest came..he ought to have taken his place as ‘crow’ upon the stack. 1913A. I. Carr Country Work & Life in N.Z. v. 11 A ‘crow’..whose work consists of passing the fork-fulls thrown up by the carter to the stacker. 1956J. Dare Rouseabout Jane xxiv. 185 When it came to stacking the corn, my job was to be ‘crow’.
c. slang. A derogatory name for a girl or woman, esp. one who is old or ugly; freq. in phr. old crow.
1925‘H. H. Richardson’ Way Home (1930) vi. 477 It makes me feel a proper old crow. 1938Runyon Take it Easy 27 She is by no means a crow. In fact, she is rather nice-looking. 1957R. C. Sherriff Telescope ii. i. 56 Mayfield. There's an old lady named Miss Fortescue... Ben (laughing). Coo!—I know that old crow.
†9. Alch. A colour of ore, or of substances in a certain state. Obs.
1610B. Jonson Alch. ii. ii, These bleard-eyes Haue wak'd, to reade your generall colours, Sir, Of the pale citron, the greene lyon, the crow. Ibid. ii. iii, What colour saies it? Fac. The ground black, Sir? Mam. That's your crowes-head?
10. Mining. Used attrib. to denote a poor or impure bed of coal, limestone, etc.; e.g. in crow bed, crow chert, crow coal, crow lime(stone. (Cf. crow-gold in 11.) north. and Sc.
1789J. Williams Min. Kingd. (1810) I. 62 What is meant by the crawcoal is the crop-coal..which is always supposed to be a thin one. 1836J. Phillips Illustr. Geol. Yorksh. ii. 66 Thus we have Crow chert, Crow limestone, Crow lime. 1852Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIII. i. 208 Small beds of the kind called crow coal (only useful for burning lime).
11. Comb., as crow-scaring; crow-like adj. and adv.; crow-bait colloq. (orig. U.S.) = crows'-meat; spec. an old or worn-out horse; † crow-bird, a young crow; crow-blackbird (U.S.), a name for the Purple Grackle (Quiscalus purpureus), and allied species; crow-boy, a boy employed to scare crows away; crow-coal (see 10 above); crow-corn, a name for the North American plant Aletris farinosa; † crow-cup = crow-stone; crow-eater (Australian colloq.), ‘a lazy fellow who will live on anything rather than work’ (Lentzner); also, a South Australian; crow-fig, the berry of the nux vomica tree; crow-flight, -fly, a direct course, a straight line (cf. sense 3 c); also quasi-adv.; crow-gold (see quot.); crow-herd, a person employed to guard corn-fields from rooks; crow-hole, a hole made with an iron crow; crow-iron, a crow-bar; † crow-keeper = crow-herd; also a scare-crow; crow-line, the straight line of a crow's flight; crows'-meat, food for crows, carrion; crow-minder = crow-herd; crow-needle, the Umbelliferous plant Scandix Pecten; crow-net, a net for catching crows and other birds; crowpeck(s, † -pickes (see quots.); crow-pheasant, a large bird of India and China, Centropus sinensis; crow-pick v. trans., to inspect (coal) and free it from stones and rubbish; hence crow-picker; crow-purse, a local name for the empty egg-case of the skate (also Mermaid's-purse); crow-sheaf (Cornwall), ‘the top sheaf on the end of a mow’; crow-shrike, a bird of the sub-family Gymnorhininæ or Piping Crows; † crow-spike, a crow-bar; crow-starving, the keeping of rooks from cornfields; crow-tree, a tree in a rookery. See also crow-bar to crow-tread.
1857Spirit of Times 14 Feb. 382/1 He had a ole ball-face, bob-tail rip, jest' 'bout fit for *crow-bait. 1860Marysville (Calif.) Appeal 25 Mar. 2/1 For many moments did the teamster ‘cuss’ and belabor his crow-baits. 1884Harper's Mag. Oct. 738/2 ‘Drivin' a black hoss—a reg'lar crowbate.’ a1910‘O. Henry’ Trimmed Lamp 73, I think I like your horses best. I haven't seen a crowbait since I've been in town. 1920J. M. Hunter Trail Drivers of Texas 98 At this I..rounded up my ‘crow bait’ and pulled out for home. 1957A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia xiii. 141 He rode out to do the réjon act on an ancient crowbait borrowed from the picadors' stable.
a1300E.E. Psalter cxlvi. 9 (Mätz.) Mete..to *crawe briddes [L. pullis corvorum] him kalland.
1778J. Carver Travels 473 The *crow blackbird..is quite black. 1870Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 13 Twice have the crow-blackbirds attempted a settlement in my vines.
1868Lond. Rev. 28 Nov. 591/2 She warns off comely women from the premises as her *crow-boy does birds from the newly-sown field.
1899Daily News 13 Sept. 7/5 ‘The land of the *crow-eater’ was at no time a convict settlement. 1902J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 2 It may have been that, to the early South Australians, means of subsistence came not easily. At any rate they are called ‘Crow-eaters’. 1934Crow-eater [see Bananaland]. 1967Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 25 July 2 The ‘Crow-Eaters’ have bustled ahead and watched industrialisation transform their once sleepy-hollow State.
1778*Crow fig [see nux vomica]. 1830Oxford Jrnl. 30 Oct. 3 He struck her; which exasperated the poor woman so much as to induce her to poison herself with crow⁓fig. 1895Bloxam Chem. (ed. 8) 760 Nux-vomica, or crow⁓fig, contains about 1 per cent of strychnine.
1875G. M. Hopkins Let. 20 Feb. (1935) 30 A long *crow-flight is between us. 1885Science 7 Aug. 108/2 We clambered over the hills and spurs in the usual crow-flight of the Karens. 1964Economist 17 Oct. 258/1 The road..runs crow-flight straight.
1846Wesleyan Methodist Mag. Jan. 53/1 It lies..east..at a direct distance, *crow-fly, of about eighty miles. 1929T. E. Lawrence Home Lett. (1954) 376 To get to Plymouth (only 300 yards crow-fly) is four and a half miles of bad road!
1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 370 A bed of chalk, almost like clay, containing many pyrites, locally [at Charlton] termed *crow-gold.
1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 86 Many farmers are under the necessity of keeping *crowherds.
1817Blackw. Mag. I. 637/2 One of those blocks is so large..that four men with two *crow-irons could not turn it out.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 211 Thers no *crowe keeper but thou. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 6 Skaring the Ladies like a Crow-keeper. c1626Dick of Devon ii. iv. in Bullen Old Pl. II. 38 Sure these can be no Crowkeepers nor birdscarers from the fruite!
1616–61B. Holyday Persius (1673) 323 Hoarsly *crow-like caw'st out some idle thing.
1681Otway Soldier's Fort. iii. i, He shall be *Crows Meats by to-morrow Night.
1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 330 A little *crow-minder, hoarse from his late occupation, came in.
1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming xxxvii. 301 *Crow-Needle, bears a white Flower, about half the height of the Corn. 1881H. & C. R. Smith Isle of Wight Words 46 Crow-needles, Scandix Pecten.
1620J. Wilkinson Courts Leet 124 In every parish and tything..a *crow-net provided to kill and destroy crowes, rookes, and choughes.
1870Ibis VI. 234 Among the bamboo-copses and gardens around Kiungchowfoo, and all other towns in Hainan, the *Crow-Pheasant was abundant. 1878P. Robinson In my Indian Garden 7 The crow pheasant stalks past with his chestnut wings drooping by his side. 1883‘Eha’ Tribes on my Frontier 155 That ungainly object the coucal, crow-pheasant, jungle-crow, or whatever else you like to call the miscellaneous thing. 1964A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 171/2 C[entropus] sinensis, commonly known in India as the Crow-pheasant, is a large black bird with chestnut wings.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. vi. (1623) O iij, Barbery, *Crowpickes, Charlocke, Rosemary. 1794J. Davis Agric. Wilts (1813) Gloss., Crowpeck, Shepherd's purse. 1886Britten & Holl. Plant-n., Crowpecks, Scandix Pecten. Hants.
1920Glasgow Herald 13 May 6 To *crow-pick each hutch as it passes the steelyard. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §047 *Crow picker; inspects shale in mine before it is loaded, to see that only clean shale is loaded. 1922Glasgow Herald 12 July 10 Frae crawpickers that craw us O' hauf oor hardwon rakes;..Deliver us, O Lord!
1693Wallace Orkney 18 On the shore is to be found..also that which they call the *Crow-Purse: which is a pretty work of Nature.
1897Daily News 15 Jan. 6/1 His first employment was *crow-scaring. 1933W. de la Mare Lord Fish 40 He had taken up crow-scaring at seven.
1692Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 456 Great quantities of warlike preparations, as..pickaxes, shovells, *crow spikes, etc.
1848C. Brontë J. Eyre xv. (D.), I like Thornfield, its antiquity, its retirement, its old *crow-trees and thorn-trees.
▸ crow's ash n. Austral. a rainforest tree, Flindersia australis (family Rutaceae), found in parts of eastern Australia and having a scaly bark and prickly woody fruits; (also) the timber of this tree, which is hard, yellowish, and oily.
1852J. D. Lang Hist. Acct. New S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 71 The casks are made of various sorts of indigenous timber, called the silky oak, the spotted gum, and the *crow's-ash; of which the first mentioned is the best. 1903Austral. Handbk. 279 Other orders..furnish..large-sized timber, particularly the following:—..‘Crow's Ash’ (Flindersia australis). 1949F. N. Howes Veg. Gums & Resins vi. 75 F. australis, (‘cudgerie’ or ‘crow's ash’)..yields a similar gum and that of F. bennetiana is also water-soluble. 1999Westside News (Brisbane) 13 Oct. 1/2 Bunya pine, crows ash, figs, tuckeroos and melaleuca trees in the park had been spiked with metal rods to prevent them being chain sawed to the ground to make way for the bypass.
▪ II. crow, n.2|krəʊ|
Also Sc. craw.
[f. crow v.1]
Crowing (of a cock). Cf. cock-crow.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 137/1090 Bi-fore þe cockes crowe. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 489, I shal at cokkes crow Ful pryuely knokken at his wyndowe. 1663Cowley Pindar. Odes, Brutus iv, One would have thought 't had heard the Morning Crow. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg., Refectory, The cheery crow Of cocks in the yard below.
b. transf. and fig.
1859W. C. Bennet Baby May, Crows and laughs and tearful eyes. 1860Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxxvii. 85 The folly which got up gasconading crows for war.
▪ III. crow, n.3|krəʊ|
[Cf. MHG. kros, krös, kalbskrös, schweinskrös, etc. mesentery, Du. kroos, kroost ‘intestina, venter cum intestinis’ (Kilian), mod.Du. kroos giblets; but also LG. krage ‘gekröse’, mesentery, and its allied forms in Grimm s.v. kragen 1962.]
The mesentery of an animal.
1662J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 179 The meat and drink ascends into the Chyle or juyce of the stomach, into the juyce of the mesentery or Crow. 1804Farley Lond. Art of Cookery (ed. 10), The harslet, which consists of the liver, crow, kidneys, and skirts. c1818Yng. Woman's Companion 2 The liver and crow are much admired fried with bacon.
▪ IV. crow, v.1|krəʊ|
Pa. tense crew |kruː|, crowed. pa. pple. crowed, [crown |krəʊn|]. Forms: 1–2 crawan, -en, 3–7 crowe, 4– crow; north. 3–6 crau, (krau), 4–5 crawe, 4– craw. pa. tense 1–2 creow, 3 creuȝ, 3–4 cru, 3–6 creu, 4 crwe, 4–5 creew, 4–6 crewe, krew, 4– crew; also 6– crowed. pa. pple. (1 crawen), 4–5 crowe(n, 7 crowne, (9 crown); north. 6 crawin, 8 crawn; 6– crowed.
[OE. cráwan strong vb. (créow, cráwen), which in the other WGerm. languages is weak (cf. blow): OS. *craian (MDu. kraeijen, Du. kraaijen, MLG. kreien, LG. kraien, kreien), OHG. chrâian, crâwan, crâen, (MHG. crâjen, crâen, kræ̂jen, kræ̂n, mod.G. krähen.) Originally an echoic word, and prob. of WG. origin. The strong pa. tense is still prevalent in sense 1, but in 2, 3 the weak form is used; the strong pa. pple. is only dialectal.]
1. intr. To utter the loud cry of a cock.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 75 ær þam þe se cocc crawe. Ibid. 74 And hrædlice þa creow se cocc. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 416/460 At þe furste cocke þat creuȝ. a1300Cursor M. 15945 (Cott.) Þan bigan þe cok to crau. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 501 Whan that the firste cok hath crowe anon. 1513Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 114 Phebus crownit byrd..thryse had crawin cleir. 15..Proph. Welshmen in Thynne Animadv. App. v. (1865) 117 A yong coke that crowed wonderos bould. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. iv. 3 The second Cocke hath crow'd. 1611Bible Luke xxii. 60 While he yet spake, the cocke crew. 1717Berkeley Tour in Italy Wks. IV. 532 The column..on which the cock stood when he crowed. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles v. xiii, The black-cock deem'd it day, and crew. 1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xiv. (1857) 214 The cock had crown. 1842Tennyson Will Waterproof xvi, The Cock..Crow'd lustier late and early. 1874G. W. Dasent Tales fr. Fjeld 66 He stood on one leg and crew.
†b. Rarely of other cries, as that of the raven.
a1250Owl & Night. 336 Evre croweth thi wrecche crei, That he ne swiketh niȝt ne dai. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 191 He syngeth crowyng as a nightyngale. 1483Cath. Angl. 83 To Crowe..crocitare vel crocare, coruorum est.
c. quasi-trans.
1393Gower Conf. II. 102 There is no cock to crowe day. 1816Scott Antiq. xxi, ‘What for the red cock didna craw her up in the morning.’
2. transf. Of persons: To utter a loud inarticulate sound of joy or exultation; said esp. of the joyful cry of an infant.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 40 And crowing in pypes made of greene corne, You thinken to be Lords of the yeare. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 28 More he [the baby] crowde, more we cride. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 30. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 45 He..began to crow and holla like a mad boy. 1782F. Burney Diary 30 Oct., [The] child..laughed and crowed the whole time. a1863Thackeray D. Duval iii, [The] baby..would..crow with delight.
3. fig. To speak in exultation; to exult loudly, boast, swagger. to crow over: to triumph over.
1522Skelton Why not to Court 65 Dicken, thou krew doutlesse. 1588J. Udall Demonstr. Discip. (Arb.) 40 They crow ouer them as if they wer their slaues. 1588Greene Pandosto (1843) 27 So his wife..beganne to crow against her goodman. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. (1669) 92/1 Hagar..began to contest with, yea, crow over her Mistress. 1776Johnson Lett. to Mrs. Thrale 18 May, He crows and triumphs. 1800Weems Washington iii. (1877) 23 The party favoured would begin to crow. 1841J. H. Newman Lett. (1891) II. 337 We must not crow till we are out of the wood. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xx, I'm not going to be crowed over by you. Mod. He crowed over them.
▪ V. crow, v.2 S. Afr.|krəʊ|
[Transliteration of dialectal Afrikaans grau, grou, f. grawe, Du. graven, with Eng. (k) representing Afrikaans |x|]
trans. and intr. To dig.
1853F. Galton Trop. S. Afr. iii. 79 This method of digging is called in Dutch patois ‘crowing’ the ground; thus, ‘crow-water’, means water that you have to crow for, and not an open well, or spring. 1868J. G. Wood Nat. Hist. Man I. xxx. 343 The Damaras..will sometimes ‘crow’ holes eighteen inches..in depth. 1896H. A. Bryden Tales S. Afr. 47 With this last implement she can the more easily crow up their dinner. |