(crowds, crowding, crowded)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
A crowd is a large group of people who have gathered together, for example to watch or listen to something interesting, or to protest about something.
A huge crowd gathered in a square outside the Kremlin walls...
The crowd were enormously enthusiastic...
The explosions took place in shopping centres as crowds of people were shopping for Mothers' Day.
= throng
N-COUNT-COLL: oft N of n
2.
A particular crowd is a group of friends, or a set of people who share the same interests or job. (INFORMAL)
All the old crowd have come out for this occasion.
N-COUNT: usu supp N
3.
When people crowd around someone or something, they gather closely together around them.
The hungry refugees crowded around the tractors...
Police blocked off the road as hotel staff and guests crowded around.
= cluster
VERB: V round/around n, V round/around
4.
If people crowd into a place or are crowded into a place, large numbers of them enter it so that it becomes very full.
Hundreds of thousands of people have crowded into the center of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius...
One group of journalists were crowded into a minibus...
'Bravo, bravo,' chanted party workers crowded in the main hall.
= pack, cram
VERB: V into n, be V-ed into n, V-ed
5.
If a group of people crowd a place, there are so many of them there that it is full.
Thousands of demonstrators crowded the streets shouting slogans.
= pack
VERB: V n
6.
If people crowd you, they stand very closely around you trying to see or speak to you, so that you feel uncomfortable.
It had been a tense, restless day with people crowding her all the time.
VERB: V n