/ kruːˈseɪd; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
~ (for / against sth) | ~ (to do sth) a long and determined effort to achieve sth that you believe to be right or to stop sth that you believe to be wrong
SYN campaign :
to lead a crusade against crime
a moral crusade
2.
(sometimes Crusade ) any of the wars fought in Palestine by European Christian countries against the Muslims in the Middle Ages
■ verb
[ v ] to make a long and determined effort to achieve sth that you believe to be right or to stop sth you believe to be wrong
SYN campaign
••
WORD ORIGIN
late 16th cent. (originally as croisade ): from French croisade , an alteration (influenced by Spanish cruzado ) of earlier croisée , literally the state of being marked with the cross, based on Latin crux , cruc- cross; in the 17th cent. the form crusado , from Spanish cruzado , was introduced. The blending of these two forms led to the current spelling, first recorded in the early 18th cent.