crouse 
Now, they're crouse and cantie baith! 
Ha, ha, the wooing o't. 
Burns, Duncan Gray. 
crousely, crously (krus'li), adv. In a crouse 
manner; self -assert! vely ; saucily; proudly; 
boldly. [Scotch.] 
I wat they bragged right crousilie. 
Jlillie Archie (Child's Ballads, VI. 9). 
Ye cootie moorcocks, crousely craw ! 
Burns, Tarn Samson's Elegy. 
crow 1 (kro), v. ; pret. and pp. crowed, formerly 
crew, ppr. crowing. [= Sc. craw, < ME. croieen, 
crawen (pret. crew, crewe, pp. crowen, crowe), < 
AS. crdwan (strong verb, pret. creow, pp. 'era- 
wen) = (weak verb) D. kraaijen = LG. kreien 
= OHG. chrajdii, MHG. kratjen, G. krahen, crow, 
as a cock. Hence AS. "creel (= MLG. krat), in 
comp. hancred = OS. Imnocrdd = OHG. hana- 
chrdt, MHG. hanekrdt, eock-crow (hana, cock). 
Orig. used in a general sense, including the 
croaking of the crow (see crow 2 ), the cry of the 
crane, etc. ; prob. imitative, like croak, crake 2 , 
etc.] I. iiitrtiiix. 1. To cry as a cock; utter 
the characteristic cry of a cock. 
Iu that same place seynt Peter forsoke cure Lord tliries, 
or the Cok crew. Mamieoille, Travels, p. 91. 
My lungs began to croie like chanticleer, . . . 
And I did laugh sans intermission 
An hour by his dial. Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 
2. To boast in triumph ; vaunt; vapor; swag- 
ger: absolutely, or with over or about. 
Joas at first does bright and glorious show ; 
In Life's fresh Morn his Fame did early crow. 
Cowleu, Davideis, ii. 
Selby is crowing, and, though always defeated by his 
wife, still crowing' on. Richardson, Sir Charles Grandison. 
To telegraph home to father and crow over him. 
Harper's Mag., LXV. 801. 
3. To utter a shouting sound expressive of 
pleasure, as an infant. 
The mother of the sweetest little maid 
That ever crow'd for kisses. 
Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
Crowing convulsions. See convulsion and croup^. 
II.+ trans. To announce by crowing. 
There is no cock to crowe day. 
Gowcr, Conf. Amant., II. 102. 
May I ne'er craw day ! Scotch jrrocfrb. (Jamieson.) 
crow 1 (kro), n. [< crowl, >.] The characteris- 
tic cry of the cock : sometimes applied to a simi- 
lar cry of some other bird. 
Many a time ... a moor-fowl arose from the heath, 
and shot along the moor, uttering his bold crow of defiance. 
Scott, Abbot, x. 
crow 2 (kro), n. [< ME. crow, craw, crowe, crawe, 
< AS. crawe = OS. krdia = D. kraai = MLG. 
kra, krage = OHG. chrdja, chrdwa, chrda, chrd, 
MHG. kra, kratje, G. krahe, a crow, a raven; 
from the verb, AS. crdwan, etc., crow (orig. in a 
general sense). Cf. E. dial, crake, a crow, Icel. 
krdka, a crow: see eraTce, croak, etc.] 1. A gen- 
eral name including most birds of the genus 
Cornus and of the family Corrida; ; especially, 
one of the Corvina:. See these three words. 
The larger kinds of crows are called raeens, especially 
those which have the throat-feathers lengthened, lanceo- 
late, and discrete. The term, used absolutely, means in 
Great Britain tire carrion-crow, Cormis corotie, and in the 
United States the common American crow, C. amerlcamu. 
The two species are so similar in all respects that they are 
only distinguished by slight technical characters. The plu- 
mage is jet-black, 
with a purplish 
and violet gloss 
or sheen, espe- 
cially on the back, 
wings, and tail ; 
the bill and feet 
are ebony-black ; 
the base of the 
upper mandible 
is covered for 
a long distance 
with a bundle of 
antrorse bristly 
feathers, filling 
each nasal fossa 
and hiding the 
nostrils. The eyes 
are bright and 
intelligent, of a hazel-brown color. The feet are stout, 
with strong curved claws and scaly tarsi and toes. The 
tail Is of moderate length, a little rounded or fan-shaped, 
of 12 broad plane feathers. The wings are lengthened and 
pointed, with 10 primaries, and when folded their tips 
fall nearly opposite the end of the tail. The length of 
these crows is IS or 20 inches. Crows are among the most 
omnivorous of birds, eating almost everything from car- 
rion to fruits. Some species, hence called Jith-eruini, are 
fond of fish and shell-fish, as mollusks and crustaceans. 
Crows usually nest in trees, where they build large liulky 
nests of sticks, and lay greenish eggs heavily spotted with 
dark colors, generally to the number of 4, 5, or 6. They 
are noted for their sagacity, and in populous countries be- 
come extremely wary and knowing birds, their instinct of 
self-preservation being developed to the highest decree 
by tile incessant persecution to which they are subjected. 
Carrion-crow( Corvus coronf). 
1368 
Opinions differ as to their being on the whole most bene- 
ficial or most injurious to the agriculturist, but they are 
generally classed as " vermin," and iu some places a legal 
price is set upon their heads. Crows are eminently socia- 
ble birds, and however widely they may be dispersed in 
pairs in the breeding season, they flock at other times ; 
and in winter, in many places iu the United States, vast 
bauds numbering hundreds of thousands assemble night- 
ly to roost together, often flying 20 to 40 miles back to 
these crow-roosta at night after foraging over the coun- 
try for food during the earlier hours of the day. The com- 
mon American fish-crow is C. ossifragus or C. maritiui u .-. 
au undersized species inhabiting southerly parts of the 
United States, especially coastwise, and feeding much on 
shell-fish. The northwestern fish-crow is C. muriims, a 
similar though distinct species. The white-necked crow 
or raven is C. cryptoleucus, of western parts of the United 
States, in which the plumage of the neck beneath the black 
surface is snowy-white. A number of small crows resem- 
bling the fish-crow inhabit the West Indies, as C. jamai- 
censis. In some of these the face is partially naked, a 
character which is also conspicuous in the European rook, 
a kind of crow, C. frugilegtts. The European daw, C. mo- 
uediila, is another kind of crow. See also phrases below. 
The gallant Grahams cam from the west, 
Wi' their horses black as ouy craw. 
Battle of Pentland Hills (Child's Ballads, VII. 241). 
The many-winter'd crow that leads the clanging rookery 
home. Tennyson, Locksley Hall. 
2. A name of several birds of other families. 
See the phrases below. 3. [cap.'] The constel- 
lation Corvus. 4. The mesentery or ruffle of 
a beast: so called by butchers. 5. One who 
watches or stands guard while another commits 
a theft ; a confederate in a robbery. [Thieves' 
slang.] 6. A crowbar. 
A nt. E. Go, borrow me a crow. 
Dro. E. A crow without feather ; master, mean you so ? . . . 
Ant. E. Go, get thee gone, fetch me an iron crow. 
Shak.,V. of E.,iii. 1. 
Use all your Art, apply your sledges, your levers, and 
your iron crows, to heave and hale your mighty Polyphem 
of Antiquity to the delusion of Novices. 
Milton, On Def. of Hiimb. Remonst. 
7. A device for holding a ga,s- or water-main in 
position while it is tap- 
ped for a service-pipe. 
Alpine crow, Pyrrhocorax 
alpinus.Asttie crow flies, 
in a straight line. Blue 
crow, an American crow- 
like jay, Gymmtcitta cyano- 
cephala. See Gyintwcitta. 
Bunting-crow, the hooded 
crow, Corpus comix : so called 
from its variegated color. 
Cape crow, Cornu (Iletero- 
corax) capfiutix, of South Afri- 
ca. Carrion crow. See <<- 
riiin-criite. Chaplain crow, 
Cormut cornix capellanutt, a 
variety of the hooded crow 
found iu Persia, Mesopotamia, 
and parts of India. Chat- 
tering crow, the small crow 
of Jamaica, Cormis jamaicemnx. Similar species inhabit 
other West Indian islands, as C. solitaries of San Domingo, 
C. leucognaphalug of Porto Rico, and C. nasicus of Cuba. 
Clarke's crow, the American nutcracker, I'icicorous co- 
lumbianu. Corbie-crow, the carrion-crow. Cornish 
crow. See red-legged crow, below. Dun-crow, Conine 
cornix. Fish-Crow, Cormis osxifragus or C. caurinus, 
of America. Flesh-crow, the carrion-crow. Florida 
crow, Corvus floridanuK, a supposed large-billed variety of 
the common crow of America, found in Florida. Fruit- 
crows, the South American birds of the subfamily Gi/m- 
imileri-iue, family Cotinyidie. Gor-crow, the carrion- 
crow. Gray crow, gray-backed crow, heedy crow, 
hooded crow, Corvm cornix, having the body gray and the 
head, wings, and tail black. King-crow, a name of the 
Dicrurun ntacrocercux, a kind of drongo-shrike. Laugh- 
ing crow, a name of the Garndax leucolophus. Mexi- 
can crow, Corcux mexicanus, a small species with the 
wing only about 9 inches long, found in Mexico. Mid- 
den-crow, a name given in some parts of England to 
the common crow. Piping crows, the birds of the sub- 
family Streperinfe, family Corvidce. Purple Crow, one 
of several species or couspecies of small lustrous crows 
of the East Indies and Papua, as C. enca, C. omt, and 
C. molacea. Red-legged or Cornish crow, the Cornish 
chough, 1'yrrhacnrax i/rneuliu. Royston crow, Corvus 
cornix. Scapular or Senegal crow, Comumpulatut, 
an African species, with the neck, mantle, and breast pure 
white. To eat crow, to do or accept what one vehement- 
ly dislikes and has before defiantly declared he would 
not do or accept ; swallow one's words ; submit to some 
humiliating defeat; be compelled to do or suffer some- 
thing disagreeable or mortifying. [Slang, U. S. ] To have 
a crow to pluck, pull, or pick with one, to have an 
explanation to demand from one ; have some fault to find 
with one ; have a disagreeable matter to settle. 
He that hir weddyth hath a crowe to pull. 
Barclay, Ship of Fools. 
If a crow help us in, sirrah, we'll pluck a crow together. 
Stink., C. of E., iii. 1. 
If you dispute, we must even pluck a crow about it. 
Sir K. L' Ext r Jin,'. 
Tree-crows, the birds of the subfamily Calleatina; fam- 
ily Corvidte. White-breasted crow, Corvus dauuricus, 
'if northern Asia, China, and Japan. 
crow-bait (kro'bat), . An emaciated or de- 
crepit horse, as likely soon to become carrion, 
and so attractive to crows. [Colloq.] 
crowbar (kro'bar), n. A bar of iron with a 
wedge-shaped end, sometimes slightly bent and 
crowd 
forked, used as a lever or pry. Also called sim- 
ply crow. 
Masons, with wedge and crowbar, begin demolition. 
Carlyle, French Rev., III. v. 3. 
crow-bells (kro'belz), n. 1. The daffodil, Sar- 
cissus Pseiido-Xarcissus. 2. The bluebell, 
Scilla nutaim. 
crowberry (ki^'ber"!), n. ; pi. cranberries (-iz). 
The fruit of Empetrum nigrum, so called from 
its black color ; the plant itself, a heath-like 
evergreen shrub common on heaths in Scotland 
and the north of England, and found in the 
northern United States and arctic America. 
Also called black crowberry and Iteathberry . 
Broom-crowberry, of the United States, Corema Con- 
radii. 
crow-blackbird (kro'blak'berd), . A name 
of the purple grackle, Qwiscalug purpureus, an 
American passerine bird of the family Icteri- 
dce and subfamily QmscaUna; common in the 
Crow (def. 7). 
Crow-blackbird (Qaiscalia f 
eastern United States : so called from its large 
size and dark color, which give it somewhat the 
appearance of a crow. The male is about 13 inches 
long and 17} inches in extent of wings. The plumage is 
richly iridescent, with green, blue, violet, purple, and 
bronzy tints ; the bill and feet are ebony-black ; the iris 
is straw-yellow ; the tail is somewhat boat-shaped. The 
female is blackish and quite lustrous, in this differing 
from some related species, and also a little smaller than 
the male. A variety has a perfectly brassy back and 
steel-blue head ; it is sometimes distinguished as the 
bronzed crow-blackbird. The name is extended to the 
other species of the same genus. Q. major is a larger 
species of the southern United States, known as the boat- 
tailed crow-blackbird or yrackle, and locally called jack- 
daw. The tail is much carinated, and the disproportion 
in size of the sexes is very great, the female being only 
about 13 inches long, while the male is 15J to 17 ; the pecu- 
liar development of the tail is lacking in the female, and 
the color is plain grayish-brown, the male being richly 
iridescent black. A still larger species, the fan-tailed 
crow-blackbird, Q. macrurus, also called Texan i/rackle, in- 
habits the Gulf States and Mexico ; the male attains a 
length of 18 inches, while the female is much smaller. 
All these birds are gregarious, nest in trees and bushes, 
sometimes iu holes, and lay 5 or 6 greenish eggs, clouded, 
veined, and scratched with various dark colors. 
crowchemesset, See crouch-mas. 
crow-corn (kro'korn), M. The colic-root, Aletris 
fiiriiiosa, the white mealy flowers of which 
somewhat resemble kernels of grain. 
crowd 1 (kroud), v. [< ME. crowden, crouden, crt/- 
den, push, shove, drive, press forward, < AS. 
"crUdan, push, press, drive (usually cited as 
*creddan, which, however, could not produce the 
E. form ; neither inf. occurs, but only 3d pers. 
sing. ind. crydeth and pret. cri'tid, occurring 
once each; the pret. pi. would be *critdoii, the 
pp. croden, > eroda, n., and gecrod, n., in the 
poetical compounds lindcroda, the shock of 
shields (battle), lindgecrod, the shielded throng 
(warriors), lilothgecrod, the heaped throng 
(clouds), etc.), = MD. l-rtiydcn, contr. kruyen, 
D. kruijen, drive, push in a wheelbarrow (cf. 
def. I., 2). Other connections not found.] I. 
trans. 1. To push; force forward; shove; 
impel. 
O flrste moevyng cruel firmament, 
With thy diurnal sweigh that cmmlivt ay 
And hurlest al from Est til Occident. 
Chaucer, iliin uf Law's Tale, 1. 188. 
2. To push or wheel in a wheelbarrow. [Prov. 
Eng.] 3. TO press close, or closely together : 
push or drive in ; squeeze ; cram : as, to ennnl 
too much freight into a ship ; to crated many 
people into a small room. 
Tin- time misordcr'd doth, in common sense, 
Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form. 
Sha/,:. -1 Urn. l\.,iv. 2. 
There was so great a 1'russ of People that Sir John Black- 
wel, Kniyht, \MIS crowded to Death. 
Hake,-, Chronicle*, p. 105. 
