crowd

crowd¹ W2S2 [kraud] n

1.)

a large group of people who have gathered together to do something, for example to watch something or protest about something

crowd of

▪ a crowd of angry protesters

▪ a crowd of 30,000 spectators

▪ There were crowds of shoppers in the street.

▪ A vast crowd gathered in the main square.

▪ She mingled with the crowd of guests, exchanging greetings.

▪ Saturday's game was watched by a capacity crowd (=the maximum number of people that a sports ground etc can hold) .

▪ Troops fired tear gas and shots to disperse a crowd of 15,000 demonstrators.

2.) [singular] informal

a group of people who know each other, work together etc

▪ I didn't know him; he wasn't one of the usual crowd.

3.) the crowd

ordinary people, not unusual in any way

▪ You have to do things exceptionally well to stand out from the crowd (=be different from ordinary people) .

▪ He wanted to go unnoticed, to be one of the crowd .

crowd ²

crowd² v

[: Old English; Origin: crudan 'to press close']

1.) [I always + adverb/preposition]

if people crowd somewhere, they gather together in large numbers, filling a particular place

crowd into

▪ Hundreds of people crowded into the church for the funeral.

crowd round/around

▪ We all crowded round the table.

be crowded together

▪ the rapid spread of infection in areas where people are crowded together

2.) [T]

if people or things crowd a place, there are a lot of them there

▪ Holiday-makers crowded the beaches.

▪ Range after range of mountains crowd the horizon.

3.) [T]

if thoughts or ideas crowd your mind or memory, they fill it, not allowing you to think of anything else

▪ Strange thoughts and worries were crowding his mind.

4.) [T]

a) to make someone angry by moving too close to them

▪ Stop crowding me - there's plenty of room.

b) especially AmE to make someone angry or upset by making too many unfair demands on them

crowd in phr v

if problems or thoughts crowd in on you, you cannot stop thinking about them

crowd in on

▪ She shut her mind against the fears that were crowding in on her.

crowd out [crowd sb/sth<=>out] phr v

to force someone or something out of a place or situation

▪ Supermarket chains have crowded out the smaller shops.