crow

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the cry of a cock, or an imitation of it

   Some people like getting up to the sound of a rooster's crow.

2. 2
   verb

   to express pleasure verbally

   We crowed with joy.

3. 3
   verb

   to utter shrill sounds

   The cocks crowed all morning

4. 4
   noun

   A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles; it has a harsh, croaking call.

   Gaslark in his splendour on the golden stairs saying adieu to those three captains and their matchless armament foredoomed to dogs and crows on Salapanta Hills.

5. 5
   noun

   A bar of iron with a beak, crook or claw; a bar of iron used as a lever; a crowbar.

   He approached the humble tomb in which Antonia reposed. He had provided himself with an iron crow and a pick-axe: but this precaution was unnecessary.

6. 6
   noun

   Someone who keeps watch while their associates commit a crime; a lookout.

   “Ay,” put in a young man, who had the reputation of being the smartest “crow” in London—“‘fishers of men,’ as the parson says.”

7. 7
   noun

   An ill-tempered and obstinate woman, or one who otherwise has features resembling the bird; a harpy.

   But it helps a man along to have a wife he can be proud of. Suppose you marry some old crow. People point at her and ask, 'Who is that death's head yonder?'

8. 8
   noun

   The emblem of an eagle, a sign of military rank.

   A young petty officer that must have just received his “crow” (a single chevron, with an eagle over it) was showing off to several seamen.

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English crowen, from Old English crāwan (past tense crēow, past participle crāwen), from Proto-West Germanic *krāan, from Proto-Germanic *krēaną, from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gerH- (“to cry hoarsely”). The noun is from Middle English crowe, from the verb. Compare Dutch kraaien, German krähen, Lithuanian gróti, Russian гра́ять (grájatʹ)). Related to croak.