crow

Multiple Entries:
  crow    Crow  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
crow1

▶noun

• 1 a large perching bird with mostly glossy black plumage, a heavy bill, and a raucous voice. [Corvus corone (carrion crow) and related species, family Corvidae.]

• 2 informal an old or ugly woman.

– phrases
as the crow flies in a straight line across country.
eat crow N. Amer. informal be humiliated by having to admit one's defeats or mistakes.

– origin OE crāwe, of W. Gmc origin; rel. to crow2.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
crow2

▶verb (past crowed or crew)

• 1 (of a cock) utter its characteristic loud cry.

• 2 express great pride or triumph, especially in a tone of gloating satisfaction.

▶noun

• 1 the cry of a cock.

• 2 a sound expressing great pride or triumph.

– origin OE crāwan, of W. Gmc origin, rel. to crow1; ult. imitative.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Crow/krəʊ/

▶noun (pl. same or Crows)

• 1 a member of an American Indian people inhabiting eastern Montana.

• 2 the Siouan language of the Crow.

– origin suggested by Fr. gens de corbeaux, translating Siouan apsáaloke ‘crow people’.