crowd

Etymology 1

From Middle English crouden, from Old English crūdan, from Proto-West Germanic *krūdan, from Proto-Germanic *krūdaną, *kreudaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *grewt- (“to push; press”). Cognate with German Low German kroden (“to push, shove”), Dutch kruien (“to push, shove”).

verb

1. (intransitive) To press forward; to advance by pushing.
   The man crowded into the packed room.
2. (intransitive) To press together or collect in numbers
   They crowded through the archway and into the park.
3. (transitive) To press or drive together, especially into a small space; to cram.
   He tried to crowd too many cows into the cow-pen.
4. (transitive) To fill by pressing or thronging together
   The balconies and verandas were crowded with spectators, anxious to behold their future sovereign. 1875, William Hickling Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain
5. (transitive, often used with "out of" or "off") To push, to press, to shove.
   They tried to crowd her off the sidewalk.
   Alexis's mementos and numerous dance trophies were starting to crowd her out of her little bedroom. 2006, Lanna Nakone, Every Child Has a Thinking Style, page 73
6. (nautical) To approach another ship too closely when it has right of way.
7. (nautical, of a square-rigged ship, transitive) To carry excessive sail in the hope of moving faster.
8. (transitive) To press by solicitation; to urge; to dun; hence, to treat discourteously or unreasonably.

noun

1. A group of people congregated or collected into a close body without order.
   After the movie let out, a crowd of people pushed through the exit doors.
2. Several things collected or closely pressed together; also, some things adjacent to each other.
   There was a crowd of toys pushed beneath the couch where the children were playing.
3. (with definite article) The so-called lower orders of people; the populace, vulgar.
4. A group of people united or at least characterised by a common interest.
   That obscure author's fans were a nerdy crowd which hardly ever interacted before the Internet age.
   We're concerned that our daughter has fallen in with a bad crowd.
   Maybe it was time I joined the crowd and bought a few of those for my own office. 2015, Cameron Bane, Pitfall

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English crowde, from Welsh crwth or a Celtic cognate.

noun

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of crwth
   A lackey that […] can warble upon a crowd a little.
2. (now dialectal) A fiddle.

verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To play on a crowd; to fiddle.
   Fiddlers, crowd on, crowd on. 1656, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Philip Massinger, The Old Law