Also 6–7 croude, 7 crowde, 7–8 croud. [f. CROWD v.]
1. A large number of persons gathered so closely together as to press upon or impede each other; a throng, a dense multitude. (The earlier term from 13th c. was press.)
1567. Drant, Hor. Epist., To Numitius (R.). Who will, and dare retche forthe his hande, And man the throughe the croude.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. i. 57. Among the crowd i’ th’ Abbey, where a finger Could not be wedg’d in more.
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 121. Hee perceived through a window … no small crowde of people.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, III. ii. 183. I was surrounded by a croud of people.
1847. L. Hunt, Jar Honey, iv. Powers, what a crowd! how shall we get along?
1881. Bible, Mark ii. 4. They could not come nigh unto him for the crowd [1611 preasse].
2. transf. a. A large number (of persons) contemplated in the mass.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 17. The whole crowd of those we converse with, what are they?
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 264, ¶ 1. Wherein you have Crouds of Rivals.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 331. The principal pulpits … were occupied … by a crowd of distinguished men.
b. The people who throng the streets and populous centers; the masses; the multitude.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 630. We ought … not [to] esteem a thing good … because the Multitude do it … for there is scarce a worse guide than the Croude.
1750. Gray, Elegy, xix. Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife.
1878. Morley, Diderot, I. 225. This passage sounds unpleasantly like an appeal to the crowd in a matter of science.
c. U.S. and Colonies. colloq. A company; ‘set,’ ‘lot.’
(Like ‘lot,’ used of an individual, e.g., ‘he’s a bad crowd.’)
1857. J. D. Borthwick, Three Yrs. California, 195 (Bartlett). He was one of the most favourable specimens of that crowd.
1889. Farmer, Americanisms, s.v., I don’t belong to that crowd, i.e., I don’t belong to that set.
1892. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Nevermore, II. xvii. 207. He … got mixed up with a crooked Sydney-side crowd.
3. transf. and fig. A great number of things crowded together, either in fact or in contemplation; a large collection, multitude.
1627. Sanderson, 12 Serm. (1637), 511. In the croude of their vnknowne sinnes.
1728. N. Salmon, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 361. Amongst such a crowd of Advertisements.
1855. E. Forbes, Lit. Papers, i. 9. A crowd of new thoughts occupies … their minds.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. App. 704. It is signed by a crowd of names.
b. Naut. Crowd of sail: an unusual number of sails hoisted for the sake of speed; a press of sail.
1803. Phil. Trans., XCIII. 321. The holes being pressed under water by a crowd of sail on the ship.
1846. Raikes, Life of Brenton, 124. Several sail of the line appeared off Europa point under a crowd of sail.
4. Comb., as crowd-poison, -poisoning (see quot.)
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. vii. 197. A peculiar subtle emanation from the human body … which is called ‘crowd-poison.’
1882. Syd. Soc. Lex., Crowd-poisoning, the bad condition of health produced by overcrowding of people in a house or houses.
