Forms: 1 crawe, 3–7 crowe, 4– crow, (6 krowe, croo(e, 6–7 croe); north. 3–6 crawe, 5– craw. [OE. cráwe f., corresp. to OS. krâia, MLG. krâge, krâe, krâ, LG. kraie, kreie, MDu. kraeye, Du. kraai, OHG. chrâwa, chrâja, chrâ, crâwa, crâ, MHG. kræe, krâwe, krâ, Ger. krähe; a WG. deriv. of the vb. crâwan, crâian to CROW, q.v.]
1. A bird of the genus Corvus; in England commonly applied to the Carrion Crow (Corvus Corone), ‘a large black bird that feeds upon the carcasses of beasts’ (Johnson); in the north of England, Scotland and Ireland to the Rook, C. frugilegus; in U.S. to a closely allied gregarious species, C. americanus.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 241. Cornacula, crauuae.
a. 800. Erfurt Gloss., 308. Cornix, crauua.
a. 800. Corpus Gloss., 401. Carula, crauue. Ibid., 538. Cornix, crawe.
c. 1000. Spelman, Psalms (Trin. MS.), cxlvi. 10 (Bosw.). Se selþ nytenum mete heora, and briddum crawan ciʓendum hine.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1130. Pinnuc goldfinch rok ne crowe Ne dar þar never cumen.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 437/196. Blake foule … Ase it crowene and rokes weren.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. viii. 7. Noe … sente out a crow.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, D ij a. A Roke or a Crow or a Reuyn.
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 17. The Priestes take the meete that is left, and geue it to the crowes to eate.
1575. Churchyard, Chippes (1817), 108. They wysht at home they had bene keping crooes.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. ii. 51. Light thickens, and the Crow Makes Wing toth’ Rookie Wood.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1812), I. 284. Rooks are sociable birds, living in vast flocks: crows go only in pairs.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 210. They keep in flocks, like rooks (called crows in America).
1842. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 68. As the many-winter’d crow that leads the clanging rookery home.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 86. Crow is common to rook and carrion crow alike.
b. fig.
1592. Greene, Groats-w. Wit, Addr. (1637), C 3 b. There is an upstart Crow beautified with our Feathers.
a. 1640. Day, Peregr. Schol., Wks. (1881), 57. The devill … sends his black Crowe, Anger, to plucke out his ey.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Rich. II., xxxvi. The Citty Crowes Assemble, and Resolve they would keep out … his ragged rout.
2. With qualifications, as Hooded, Kentish, or Royston Crow, Corvus Cornix; Red-legged Crow, C. Graculus; Fish Crow of America, C. ossifragus or C. caurinus; CARRION-CROW, etc.; also applied to birds outside the genus or family, as Mire Crow, Sea Crow, names for Larus ridibundus; Scare Crow, the Black Tern (Hydrochelidon nigra); Blue Crow, a crow-like jay of N. America, Gymnocitta cyanocephala; Piping Crows, the birds of the sub-family Gymnorhininæ or Streperinæ; and others.
1611. Cotgr., Corneille emmentelée, the Winter-crow, whose backe and bellie are of a darke ash-colour: we call her a Royston Crow.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1812), I. 286. In England hooded crows are birds of passage.
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl., App. (1853), 326. The Laughing Gull … or Black Head…. The inhabitants of Orkney call it the ‘sea-crow;’ and in some places it is called the ‘mire-crow.’
1875. W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to Wigtownshire. These cliffs are frequented by the Cornish chough or red-legged crow.
3. In phrases and proverbial sayings, as As black as a crow, The crow thinks its own bird fairest (or white), etc. A white crow: i.e., a rara avis. To eat (boiled) crow (U.S. colloq.): to be forced to do something extremely disagreeable and humiliating.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 490. So suart so eni crowe amorwe is fot was.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1834. As blak he lay as any cole or crowe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. Prol. 78. The blak craw thinkis hir awin byrdis quhite.
1536. Latimer, 2nd Serm. bef. Convoc., Wks. I. 40. A proverb much used: ‘An evil crow, an evil egg.’
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 30. For any chaste liuer to haunt them was a black swan, and a white crowe.
1579. Fulke, Confut. Sanders, 675. He triumpheth like a crow in a gutter.
1621–51. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. i. II. ii. 421. Every Crow thinks her own bird fairest.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 98. As fruitful a place, as any the Crow flies over.
1872. Daily News, 31 July, 4/5. Both General Grant and Mr. Horace Greeley appear to be what is called, in the curious slang of American politics, ‘boiled crow’ to their adherents.
b. To have a crow to pluck or pull (rarely pick) with any one: to have something disagreeable or awkward to settle with him; to have a matter of dispute, or something requiring explanation, to clear up; to have some fault to find with him. Formerly also, to pluck or pull a crow with one or together.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xviii. 311. Na, na, abide, we haue a craw to pull.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys, cxxxiii. a. A wrathfull woman full of cruelte, He that hir weddyth, hath a crowe to pull.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 83. If a crow help vs in, sirra, wee’ll plucke a crow together.
1662. Pepys, Diary, 18 Nov. He and I very kind, but I every day expect to pull a crow with him about our lodgings.
1668. R. L’Estrange, Vis. Quev. (1708), 159. We have a Crow to pluck with these Fellows, before we part.
1849. Tait’s Mag., XVI. 385/1. If there be ‘a crow to pluck’ between us and any contemporary, we shall make a clean breast of it at once.
c. As the crow flies, etc.: in a direct line, without any of the détours caused by following the road.
1800. Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 110. About fifteen miles, the crow’s road.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXV. 152. The distance … is upwards of twenty-five miles as the crow flies.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xxv. We cut over the fields … straight as the crow flies.
1873. F. Hall, in Scribner’s Monthly, VI. 468/2. It was full eight miles, measured by the crow, to the spot.
4. Astron. The southern constellation Corvus, the Raven.
1658. in Phillips.
1867. Lockyer, Guillemin’s Heavens (ed. 2), 326. Towards the horizon, are distinguished the Balance, the Crow, and the Cup.
5. A bar of iron usually with one end slightly bent and sharpened to a beak, used as a lever or prise; a CROW-BAR.
a. 1400. St. Erkenwolde, 71, in Horstm., Alteng. Leg., Ser. II. 267. Wyȝt werke-men … Putten prises þer-to … Kaghtene by þe corners wt crowes of yrne.
1458. in Turner, Dom. Archit., III. 42. Than crafti men for the querry made crowes of yre.
1555. Eden, Decades, 333. Longe crowes of iren to lyfte great burdens.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 80. Well, Ile breake in: go borrow me a crow.
1676. Phil. Trans., XI. 755. The Mine-men do often strike such forcible strokes with a great Iron-crow.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 206. To detach the stone with an iron Crow.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 113. Crows are of various sorts; some are opened at the end, with a claw for drawing nails.
1888. Rider Haggard, Col. Quaritch, xl. Driving the sharp point of the heavy crow into the rubble work.
b. Used as an agricultural tool.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 98. Get crowe made of iron, deepe hole for to make.
1574. R. Scot, Hop Gard. (1578), 19. Set vp your Poales preparing theyr waye wyth a Crowe of Iron.
1626. A. Speed, Adam out of E., xv. (1659), 111. About the body of the Trees make many holes with a crow of Iron.
1731–7. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Vitis, Having an iron Crow … a little pointed at the End, they therewith make an Hole directly down.
† 6. A grappling hook, a grapnel. Obs. [Cf. CORVY, F. corbeau.]
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, 54 (R.). Certeine instrumentes wherewyth they myght pull downe the workes yt their enemyes made, called Harpagons, and also crowes of iron called Corvi.
1614. Sylvester, Bethulia’s Rescue, 110. Having in vain summon’d the Town; he … Brings here his Fly-Bridge, there his batt’ring Crow.
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 150. Iron Wolves and Crows to graspe the Ram withall.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., Crow, in the sea-language, a machine with an iron hook, for fastening hold, and grappling with the enemies vessel.
1873. Burton, Hist. Scot., V. liii. 34. Their siege-apparatus consisted of ladders with ‘craws’ or clamps of iron to catch the angles of the trap-rock.
† 7. An ancient kind of door-knocker. Obs. [med.L. cornix, Erasmus Colloq., Puerpera.]
1579. Churchw. Acc. Stanford, in Antiquary, April (1888), 171. For … mending ye perchell and the Crowe.
a. 1632. E. Fairfax, Eclogue, IV. (in E. Cooper Muses Libr.). Now clad in white I see my porter-crow.
1637. N. Whiting, Albino & Bell., 22. Who … Knockt at the wicket with the iron crow [printed ctow], To whose small neck white phillets here were tyde Which in more ancient dayes did child-bed show.
1846. R. Chambers, Tradit. Edinb., 200. Hardly one specimen of the pin, crow, or ringle, now survives in the Old Town.
8. Thieves’ slang. One who keeps watch while another steals.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), iv. 286 (Farmer). If anyone should be near, the ‘crow’ gives a signal, and they decamp.
1862. Cornh. Mag., VI. 648 (Farmer). Occasionally they [women] assist at a burglary,… remaining outside and keeping watch; they are then called crows.
† 9. Alch. A color of ore, or of substances in a certain state. Obs.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., II. ii. These bleard-eyes Haue wak’d, to reade your generall colours, Sir, Of the pale citron, the greene lyon, the crow. Ibid., II. iii. What colour saies it? Fac. The ground black, Sir? Mam. That’s your crowes-head?
10. Mining. Used attrib. to denote a poor or impure bed of coal, limestone, etc.; e.g., in crow bed, chert, coal, lime(stone. (Cf. crow-gold in 11.) north. and Sc.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd. (1810), I. 62. What is meant by the crawcoal is the crop-coal … which is always supposed to be a thin one.
1836. J. Phillips, Illustr. Geol. Yorksh., II. 66. Thus we have Crow chert, Crow limestone, Crow lime.
1852. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XIII. I. 208. Small beds of the kind called crow coal (only useful for burning lime).
11. Comb., as crow-like adj. and adv.; crow-bait (U.S. colloq.) = crows’-meat; † crow-bird, a young crow; crow-blackbird (U.S.), a name for the Purple Grackle (Quiscalus purpureus), and allied species; crow-boy, a boy employed to scare crows away; crow-coal (see 10 above); crow-corn, a name for the North American plant Aletris farinosa; † crow-cup = CROW-STONE; crow-eater (Australian colloq.), ‘a lazy fellow who will live on anything rather than work’ (Lentzner); crow-gold (see quot.); crow-herd, a person employed to guard corn-fields from rooks; crow-hole, a hole made with an iron crow; crow-iron, a crow-bar; † crow-keeper = crow-herd; also a scare-crow; crow-line, the straight line of a crow’s flight; crows’-meat, food for crows, carrion; crow-minder = crow-herd; crow-needle, the Umbelliferous plant Scandix Pecten; crow-net, a net for catching crows and other birds; crowpeck(s, † -pickes (see quots.); crow-purse, a local name for the empty egg-case of the skate (also Mermaid’s-purse); crow-sheaf (Cornwall), ‘the top sheaf on the end of a mow’; crow-shrike, a bird of the sub-family Gymnorhininæ or Piping Crows; † crow-spike, a crow-bar; crow-starving, the keeping of rooks from cornfields; crow-tree, a tree in a rookery. See also CROW-BAR —— CROW-TREAD.
1884. Harper’s Mag., Oct., 738/2. ‘Drivin’ a black hoss—a reg’lar *crowbate?’
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cxlvi. 9 (Mätz.). Mete … to *crawe briddes [L. pullis corvorum] him kalland.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind. (1886), 13. Twice have the *crow-blackbirds attempted a settlement in my vines.
1868. Lond. Rev., 28 Nov., 591/2. She warns off comely women from the premises as her *crow-boy does birds from the newly-sown field.
1878. F. S. Williams, Midl. Railw., 370. A bed of dark chalk, almost like clay, containing many pyrites, locally [at Charlton] termed *crow-gold.
1805. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., II. 86. Many farmers are under the necessity of keeping *crowherds.
1817. Blackw. Mag., I. 637/2. One of those blocks is so large … that four men with two *crow-irons could not turn it out.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 211. Thers no *crowe kéeper but thou.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 6. Skaring the Ladies like a Crow-keeper.
c. 1626. Dick of Devon, II. iv. in Bullen, Old Pl., II. 38. Sure these can be no Crowkeepers nor birdscarers from the fruite!
1616–61. Holyday, Persius (1673), 323. Hoarsly *crow-like caw’st out some idle thing.
1681. Otway, Soldier’s Fort., III. i. He shall be *Crows-Meats by to-morrow Night.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., III. 330. A little *crow-minder, hoarse from his late occupation, came in.
1620. J. Wilkinson, Courts Leet, 124. In every parish and tything … a *crow-net provided to kill and destroy crowes, rookes, and choughes.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon., vi. (1623), O iij. Barbery, *Crowpickes, Charlocke, Rosemary.
1794. J. Davis, Agric. Wilts (1813), Gloss., Crowpeck, Shepherd’s purse.
1886. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Crowpecks, Scandix Pecten. Hants.
1693. J. Wallace, Descr. Orkney, 18. On the Shore … is to be found…. Also that which they call the *Crow-Purse, which is a prettie Work of Nature.
1692. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 456. Great quantities of warlike preparations, as palisadoes, bombs, pickaxes, shovells, *crow spikes, &c.
1848. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xv. (D.). I like Thornfield, its antiquity, its retirement, its old *crow-trees and thorn-trees.
