Crowds

crowd ¹  (kroud)

n.

1. A large number of persons gathered together; a throng.

2. The common people; the populace.

3. A group of people united by a common characteristic, as age, interest, or vocation: the over-30 crowd.

4. A group of people attending a public function; an audience: The play drew a small but appreciative crowd.

5. A large number of things positioned or considered together.

v. crowd·ed, crowd·ing, crowds

v.intr.

1. To congregate in a restricted area; throng: The children crowded around the TV.

2. To advance by pressing or shoving: A bevy of reporters crowded toward the candidate.

v.tr.

1. To force by or as if by pressing or shoving: Police crowded the spectators back to the viewing stand. Urban sprawl crowded the farmers out of the valley.

2. To draw or stand near to: The batter crowded the plate.

3. To press, cram, or force tightly together: crowded the clothes into the closet.

4. To fill or occupy to overflowing: Books crowded the shelves.

5. Informal To put pressure on, as to pay a debt.

Idiom:

crowd (on) sail Nautical

To spread a large amount of sail to increase speed.

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[From Middle English crowden, to crowd, press, from Old English crdan, to hasten, press.]

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crowder n.

Synonyms: crowd¹, crush, flock¹, horde, mob, press¹, throng
These nouns denote a large group of people gathered close to one another: a crowd of well-wishers; a crush of autograph seekers; a flock of schoolchildren; a horde of demonstrators; a mob of hard-rock enthusiasts; a press of shoppers; throngs of tourists.

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crowd ²  (kroud, krd)

n.

1. An ancient Celtic stringed instrument that was bowed or plucked. Also called crwth.

2. Chiefly British A fiddle.

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[Middle English croud, from Middle Welsh crwth.]

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Crowds

See also mob.

demomania

a mania for crowds. Also called ochlomania.

demophilia

a fondness for crowds. — demophil, demophile. n.

demophobia

an abnormal fear of crowds. Also called ochlophobia.

mobocracy

government by the mob; the mob as ruler or dominant force in society. — mobocrat, n. — mobocratic, adj.

ochlomania

demomania.

ochlophobia

demophobia.

phalanx

an ancient military formation of serried ranks surrounded by shields; hence, any crowded mass of people or group united for a common purpose.

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Crowds 

See Also: CLOSENESS

1. About as much privacy as a statue in the park —Anon
2. As lacking in privacy as a goldfish —Anon
3. Bunched and jammed together as solidly as the bristles in a brush —Mark Twain
4. Came crowding like the waves of ocean, one on the other —Lord Byron
5. Clustering like a swarm of bees —Amy Lowell
6. Crowded like a view of Venice —Frank O’Hara
7. Crowded [stores] like tightly woven multi-colored carpet of people —Richard J. Meislin, New York Times
8. The crowd in the lobby [of a hotel] was frozen in poses like the chorus at the curtain of a musical comedy —Vicki Baum
9. The crowd scattered in all directions, like a flock of chickens among which a stone had been thrown —Aharon Megged
10. Feel like a pressed flower —Edith Wharton
11. Flocking … like geese —Sharon Sheehe Stark
12. (The public was) flowing in like a river —Enid Bagnold
13. Huddle together like birds in a storm —Robert Graves
14. Jostled like two steers in the stock yards —A. R. Guerney, Jr.
15. Loaded up like a garbage truck —Paige Mitchell
16. Man … still, like a hen, he likes his private run —W. H. Auden
17. Men milled everywhere, like cattle in a lightning storm —James Crumley
18. Mobs in their emotions are much like children, subject to the same tantrums and fits of fury —Euripides
19. No more privacy than a traffic cop —Anon
20. [People] packed as closely as herring in a barrel —Sholom Aleichem
21. Packed like a cattle pen —Paige Mitchell
22. The people bunched like cattle in a storm —James Crumley
23. People [on train] … hanging from straps like sides of beef on a hook —Julio CortÁzar
24. People [at a party] … packed tight as a rugby scrum —Nadine Gordimer

    If Gordimer’s story The Smell of Death and Flowers had been set in America, it might have had a football lineup for the rugby scrum.

25. People streaming from the plane like busy insects on the march —Sylvia Berkman
26. Stood packed like matches in an upright box —William Faulkner
27. Swarm like bees —Anon
28. Swarm like summer flies —William Shakespeare
29. (Apartments) tenanted tight as hen-houses —Barbara Howes
30. (Surrounded by militia … ) thick as aphids —Derek Lambert