Crew (kr), n.
Etymology: [From older accrue accession, reAccrue, Crescent.]
1. A company of people associated together; an assemblage; a throng. There a noble crew Of lords and ladies stood on every side. Spenser. Faithful to whom to thy rebellious crew Milton.
2. The company of seamen who man a ship, vessel, or at; the company belonging to a vessel or a boat.
Note: The word crew, in law, is ordinarily used as equivalent to ship's company, including master and other officers. When the master and other officers are excluded, the context always shows it. Story. Burrill.
3. In an extended sense, any small body of men associated for a purpose; a gang; as (Naut.), the carpenter's crew; the boatswain's crew.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Company; band; gang; horde; mob; herd; throng; party.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Crew (kr), n. (Zoöl.)
The Manx shearwater.
Crew (kr)
imp. of Crow.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for crew; he lists it under cabal.
Where he writes about it:
A gang is a company of workmen all doing the same work under one leader; the word is used figuratively only of combinations which it is meant to stigmatize as rude and mercenary; crew is used in a closely similar sense. — from cabal