crown - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

The crown (etymology 1, noun sense 1) of King Christian IV of Denmark

The crown of a watch (etymology 1, noun sense 26)

The crown (G, etymology 1, noun sense 18) of an anchor

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

crown (plural crowns)

  1. (clothing, monarchy) 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.
  2. A wreath or band for the head, especially one given as reward of victory or a mark of honor.
    Synonyms: garland, wreath
  3. (by extension) Any reward of victory or mark of honor.
    Synonyms: award, garland, honor, prize, wreath
    the martyr’s crown
  4. Imperial or regal power, or those who wield it.
    Synonyms: monarchy, royalty
  5. (metonymic) The sovereign (in a monarchy), as head of state.
  6. (by extension, especially in law) The state, the government (headed by a monarch).
    Treasure recovered from shipwrecks automatically becomes property of the Crown.
  7. (old slang) The police (referring to Crown Victoria police cars).
  8. The top part of something:
    1. The topmost part of the head.
      Synonyms: apex, top
      1. (medicine) During childbirth, the appearance of the baby's head from the mother's vagina.
      2. (religion) A round spot shaved clean on the top of the head, as a mark of the clerical state; the tonsure.
    2. 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.
    3. The top section of a hat, above the brim.
    4. The raised centre of a road.
      • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →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.
    5. 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.
    6. The upper range of facets in a rose diamond.
    7. The dome of a furnace.
    8. The upper part of certain fruits, as the pineapple or strawberry, that is removed before eating.
    9. (forestry) The top of a tree.
      Holonym: canopy
  9. (architecture) A kind of spire or lantern formed by converging flying buttresses.
  10. Splendor; culmination; acme.
    Synonyms: completion, culmination, finish, splendor
  1. 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 korona, koruna, krona, króna, krone.
  2. (historical) A former predecimalization British coin worth five shillings.
    Synonyms: caser, tusheroon, tush, tosheroon, tosh, bull, bullseye, caroon, thick-un, coachwheel, cartwheel
  1. (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.
  1. (botany) The part of a plant where the root and stem meet.
  2. (anatomy, dentistry) The part of a tooth above the gums.
    Synonym: corona
  3. (dentistry) A prosthetic covering for a tooth.
    Synonyms: dental crown, dental cap
  4. (nautical) A knot formed in the end of a rope by tucking in the strands to prevent them from unravelling.
  5. (nautical) The part of an anchor where the arms and the shank meet.
  1. (nautical) The rounding, or rounded part, of the deck from a level line.
  2. (paper)
  3. (UK) A standard size of printing paper measuring 20 × 15 inches.
  4. (US) A standard size of writing paper measuring 19 × 15 inches.
  5. (chemistry) A monocyclic ligand having three or more binding sites, capable of holding a guest in a central location.
  6. (firearms) A rounding or smoothing of the barrel opening.
  7. (geometry) The area enclosed between two concentric perimeters.
  8. A whole bird with the legs and wings removed to produce a joint of white meat.
  1. (African-American Vernacular, colloquial) A formal hat worn by women to Sunday church services; a church crown.
  1. (horology) The knurled knob or dial, on the outside of a watch case, used to wind it or adjust the hands.

royal headdress

representation of such a headdress

wreath or band for the head

reward

imperial or regal power

topmost part of the head

highest part of a hill

top of a hat

splendor, culmination, acme

any currency issued by the crown

upper part of a tree

anatomy: part of tooth

dentistry: prosthetic covering for a tooth

nautical: knot formed in the end of a rope

nautical: rounding of the deck

nautical: bights formed by the turns of a cable

paper: standard size of printing paper

chemistry: monocyclic ligand having three or more binding sites

medical: appearance of the baby's head from the mother's vagina

firearms: rounding or smoothing of the barrel opening

upper range of facets in a rose diamond

geometry: area enclosed between two concentric perimeters

religion: round spot shaved clean on the top of the head — see tonsure

whole bird with the legs and wings removed

formal hat worn by women to Sunday church services

horology: kurled winding knob or dial of a watch

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

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.
    Synonym: coronate (rare)
    • 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.
    Synonyms: coronate (rare), enthrone
    Antonyms: decrown, uncrown, dethrone
  3. To bestow something upon as a mark of honour, dignity, or recompense; to adorn; to dignify.
  4. To form the topmost or finishing part of; to complete; to consummate; to perfect.
  5. To declare (someone) a winner.
    • 2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport‎[4]:
      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
  1. (transitive, slang) To shoot (someone) in the head.

to place a crown on the head of

to formally declare one a monarch

to form the topmost or finishing part of

medicine: of a baby, to appear in the vaginal opening

video games: to shoot in the back of the head

checkers: to stack two checkers to indicate that the piece has become a king

firearms: to widen the opening of the barrel

military: to effect a lodgment upon

nautical: to lay the ends of the strands over and under each other

crown

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

crown

  1. alternative form of coroune