crown

English

The crown of King Christian IV of Denmark

The crown of a watch (sense 30)

The crown (G, sense 19) of an anchor

Etymology 1

From Middle English coroune, from Anglo-Norman corone, from Latin corōna (“crown, wreath”), from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē). Doublet of corona, koruna, krone, krona, and króna. Displaced native Old English corenbēag (“crown”); and Middle English kinehelm, kynehelm, from Old English cynehelm (“crown”).

• (paper size): So called because originally watermarked with a crown.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /kɹaʊn/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊn
• Homophone: crayon (some pronunciations)

Noun

crown (plural crowns)

2. A royal, imperial or princely headdress; a diadem.

   Synonyms: coronet, diadem

   • 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 250:

     Before so many of Europe's crowns came tumbling off the heads of their royal owners, Continental Europe could show a rich variety in the matter of royal trains.

4. A wreath or band for the head, especially one given as reward of victory or a mark of honor.

   Synonyms: garland, wreath

6. (by extension) Any reward of victory or mark of honor.

   Synonyms: award, garland, honor, prize, wreath

   the martyr’s crown

8. Imperial or regal power, or those who wield it.

   Synonyms: monarchy, royalty

10. (metonymically) The sovereign (in a monarchy), as head of state.
    • 1765, William Blackstone, “Of the Parliament”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 181:

      A parliament may be diſſolved by the demiſe of the crown.

12. (by extension, especially in law) The state, the government (headed by a monarch).

    Treasure recovered from shipwrecks automatically becomes property of the Crown.

    • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter X, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 597:

      Large arrears of pay were due to the civil and military servants of the crown; and only forty thousand pounds remained in the Exchequer.

13. (old slang) The police (referring to Crown Victoria police cars).
15. The top part of something:
    2. The topmost part of the head.

       Synonyms: apex, top

       • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 16, column 1:

         [...]if he awake, / From toe to crowne hee'l fill our skin with pinches, / Make vs ſtrange ſtuffe.

       • 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: , London: Nath Ponder , →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, , 1928, →OCLC:

         In more than twenty things, which I ſet down; / This done, I twenty more had in my Crown, / And they again began to multiply, / Like ſparks that from the coals of fire do fly.

    4. The highest part of a hill.

       Synonyms: apex, crest, hillcrest, peak, summit, top

       Antonyms: base, bottom, foot

       • 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, page 370, lines 267–268:

         Huge Trunks of Trees, fell'd from the ſteepy Crown / Of the bare Mountains, rowl with Ruin down.

       • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

         We walk’d together on the crown/Of a high mountain which look’d down/Afar from its proud natural towers/Of rock and forest, on the hills—/The dwindled hills! begirt with bowers/And shouting with a thousand rills.

       • 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 752:

         So we continue climbing to the saddle of the Kleine Scheidegg, where ahead there comes into view the wide expanse of the Grindelwald valley, backed by the snowy crown of the Wetterhorn.

    6. The top section of a hat, above the brim.
    8. The raised centre of a road.
       • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

         Watt was beginning to tire of running his eyes up and down this highway, when a figure, human apparently, advancing along its crown, arrested, and revived, his attention.

    9. The highest part of an arch.
       • 1941 February, “Bridge demolition by lifting”, in Railway Magazine, page 74:

         The arch failed first at the crown, then at the quarterings, and finally at the springings.

    10. The upper range of facets in a rose diamond.
    11. The dome of a furnace.
    12. The upper part of certain fruits, as the pineapple or strawberry, that is removed before eating.
17. (architecture) A kind of spire or lantern formed by converging flying buttresses.
19. Splendor; culmination; acme.

    Synonyms: completion, culmination, finish, splendor

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 727–729:

      [...] happie in our mutual help/ And mutual love, the Crown of all our bliſs/ Ordain'd by thee, [...]

21. Any currency (originally) issued by the crown (regal power) and often bearing a crown (headdress); (translation) various currencies known by similar names in their native languages, such as the koruna, kruna, krone, korona.
23. (historical) A former predecimalization British coin worth five shillings.

    Synonyms: caser, tusheroon, tush, tosheroon, tosh, bull, caroon, thick-un, coachwheel, cartwheel

    • 1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words:

      Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.

25. (historical, by extension) A coin or note worth five shillings in various countries that are or were in the British Commonwealth, such as Ireland or Jamaica.
    • 1866, Jamaica. Report of the Royal Jamaica Commission, 1866. Part II: Minutes of Evidence and Appendix‎, H.M.Stationery Office, page 558:

      There is no difficulty getting married in Jamaica, is there? No, it only costs half a crown.

    • 2009, “Maggie Murphy's Knickers” (track 8), in Stay Wut Her Johnny‎, performed by Richie Kavanagh:

      Maggie Murphy had some knickers that she bought in Bagenalstown, an interlock of knickers that she got for a half a crown.

27. (botany) The part of a plant where the root and stem meet.
29. (forestry) The top of a tree.

    Holonym: canopy

31. (anatomy, dentistry) The part of a tooth above the gums.

    Synonym: corona

33. (dentistry) A prosthetic covering for a tooth.

    Synonyms: dental crown, dental cap

34. (nautical) A knot formed in the end of a rope by tucking in the strands to prevent them from unravelling.
36. (nautical) The part of an anchor where the arms and the shank meet.
    • 1904–1906, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in The Mirror of the Sea, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, published October 1906, →OCLC:

      The honest, rough piece of iron, so simple in appearance, has more parts than the human body has limbs: the ring, the stock, the crown, the flukes, the palms, the shank. All this, according to the journalist, is “cast” when a ship arriving at an anchorage is brought up.

37. (nautical) The rounding, or rounded part, of the deck from a level line.
38. (paper) In England, a standard size of printing paper measuring 20 × 15 inches.
39. (paper) In American, a standard size of writing paper measuring 19 × 15 inches.
40. (chemistry) A monocyclic ligand having three or more binding sites, capable of holding a guest in a central location.
41. (medicine) During childbirth, the appearance of the baby's head from the mother's vagina.
42. (firearms) A rounding or smoothing of the barrel opening.
43. (geometry) The area enclosed between two concentric perimeters.
44. (religion) A round spot shaved clean on the top of the head, as a mark of the clerical state; the tonsure.
45. A whole bird with the legs and wings removed to produce a joint of white meat.
    • 2012, Paul Treyvaud, The Hooker in the Lobby:

      When these TV chefs show you that they can cook a turkey crown in less than two hours; they aren't magicians or have secret turkey suppliers. The twenty minute per pound rule is based on our grandparents' ovens.

46. (African-American Vernacular, colloquial) A formal hat worn by women to Sunday church services; a church crown.
    • 2013, Adam Boulton, Tony's Ten Years: Memories of the Blair Administration‎:

      "His [Barack Obama's] unofficial slogan 'fired up and ready to go!' was borrowed from an 'old lady in a church crown [Sunday best hat]."

48. (horology) The knurled knob or dial, on the outside of a watch case, used to wind it or adjust the hands.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: クラウン (kuraun)
• → Korean: 크라운 (keuraun)
• → Maori: karauna

Translations

Adjective

crown (not comparable)

1. Of, related to, or pertaining to a crown.

   crown prince

2. Of, related to, pertaining to the top of a tree or trees.

   a crown fire

Translations

Verb

crown (third-person singular simple present crowns, present participle crowning, simple past and past participle crowned)

1. To place a crown on the head of.
   • 2012, Poul Anderson (lyrics), performed by Leslie Fish, “The Ballad of Three Kings” in Avalon is Risen, originally published (in variant form) in Poul Anderson, “Three Kings”, Amra, volume 2, number 64 (1975):

     The king of the Huns was crowned with steel, and rode a stallion red,/Saying: “Proud must my father’s spirit feel of me who crowned my head ”

2. To formally declare (someone) a king, queen, emperor, etc.
   • 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. , London: J M for H Herringman , published 1667, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 3:

     Her, vvho faireſt does appear, / Crovvn her Queen of all the year.

3. To bestow something upon as a mark of honour, dignity, or recompense; to adorn; to dignify.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Psalms 8:5:

     Thou […] hast crowned him with glory and honour.

4. To form the topmost or finishing part of; to complete; to consummate; to perfect.
   • 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, ; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, , →OCLC, stanza XLIX:

     the grove that crowns yon tufted hill

   • 1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic:

     To crown the whole, came a proposition.

5. To declare (someone) a winner.
   • 2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport‎:

     New Zealand were crowned world champions for the first time in 24 years after squeezing past an inspired France team by a single point.

6. (medicine) Of a baby, during the birthing process; for the surface of the baby's head to appear in the vaginal opening.

   The mother was in the second stage of labor and the fetus had just crowned, prompting a round of encouragement from the midwives.

   • 2007, David Schottke, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, First Responder: Your First Response in Emergency Care, page 385

     You will see the baby's head crowning during contractions, at which time you must prepare to assist the mother in the delivery of the baby.

   • 2010, Scott Gallagher, Dancing Upon the Shore, page 157:

     He's crowning . . . His head's coming through

7. (transitive) To cause to round upward; to make anything higher at the middle than at the edges, such as the face of a machine pulley.
8. To hit on the head.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘ […] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. We nearly crowned her we were so offended. She saw us but she didn't know us, did she?’.

9. (video games) To shoot an opponent in the back of the head with a shotgun in a first-person shooter video game.
10. (board games) In checkers, to stack two checkers to indicate that the piece has become a king.

    “Crown me!” I said, as I moved my checker to the back row.

11. Of a forest fire or bushfire, to spread to the crowns of the trees and thence move from tree to tree independent of the surface fire.
12. (firearms) To widen the opening of the barrel.
13. (military) To effect a lodgment upon, as upon the crest of the glacis, or the summit of the breach.
14. (nautical) To lay the ends of the strands of (a knot) over and under each other.
15. (intransitive, slang) To be on the point of defecating.

    Synonym: grow a tail

    • 2020, Eddy Keymolen, amerikanischen Umgangssprache, page 148:

      Where's the bathroom, I'm crowning here!

Derived terms

• crowned
• crown it all

Translations

See also

• coronation
• 👑

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹoʊn/
• Rhymes: -əʊn

Verb

crown

1. (archaic) past participle of crow
   • 1823, Byron, Don Juan:

     The cock had crown.

References

• “crown”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “crown”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Middle English

Noun

crown

1. Alternative form of coroune