/ kruː; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C +sing./pl. v . ] all the people working on a ship, plane, etc. :
None of the passengers and crew were injured.
crew members
—see also aircrew , cabin crew , flight crew
2.
[ C +sing./pl. v . ] all the people working on a ship, plane etc. except the officers who are in charge :
the officers and crew
3.
[ C +sing./pl. v . ] a group of people with special skills working together :
a film / camera crew
an ambulance crew
—see also ground crew
4.
[ sing. ] (usually disapproving ) a group of people :
The people she invited were a pretty motley crew (= a strange mix of types of people) .
5.
[ C +sing./pl. v . ] a team of people who row boats in races :
a member of the Cambridge crew
6.
[ U ] ( NAmE ) the sport of rowing with other people in a boat :
I'm thinking of going out for crew this semester (= joining the rowing team).
■ verb
to be part of a crew , especially on a ship :
[ vn ]
Normally the boat is crewed by five people.
[ v ]
I crewed for him on his yacht last summer.
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English : from Old French creue augmentation, increase, feminine past participle of croistre grow, from Latin crescere . The original sense was band of soldiers serving as reinforcements ; hence it came to denote any organized armed band or, generally, a company of people (late 16th cent.).