crowd in on

English

WOTD – 19 July 2018

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɹaʊd ˈɪn ɒn/
• (Northern US, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /kɹaʊd ˈɪn ɑn/
• (Southern American English) IPA^(key): /kɹaʊd ˈɪn ɔn/

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

crowd in on (third-person singular simple present crowds in on, present participle crowding in on, simple past and past participle crowded in on)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To join when not wanted; to force one's way into a situation where one is unwelcome.
   • 1863, “Astronomy and Meteorology [Some Peculiar Features of the Sun’s Surface]”, in David A[mes] Wells, editor, Annual of Scientific Discovery: Or, Year-book of Facts in Science and Art for 1863. […], Boston, Mass.: Gould and Lincoln, […], →OCLC, page 316:

     These objects [on the sun's surface], some of which were as large in superficial area as all Europe, and some even as the surface of the whole earth, were found to shoot in thin streams across the spots, bringing them over in well-defined streams or comparative lines, […]; sometimes by crowding in on the edges of the spot they closed it in, and frequently at length thus obliterated it.

   • 1922 November 25, A[rthur] M[urray] Chisholm, “A Thousand a Plate”, in Western Story Magazine, volume XXX, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith Corporation, →OCLC, chapter II, page 90, column 2:

     Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme. "The low-down, ornery cuss!" said Dobbs. "The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!"

   • 1962, John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC; republished London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1989, →ISBN, part 1, page 55:

     Oh, we can populate the dark with horrors, even we who think ourselves informed and sure, believig nothing we cannot measure or weigh. I knew beyond all doubt that the dark things crowding in on me either did not exist or were not dangerous to me, and still I was afraid.

   • 1971, Ibn ‘Arabi, “Introduction [Ibn ‘Arabi, His Life and Work]”, in R. W. J. Austin, transl., Sufis of Andalusia: The Rūḥ al-quds and al-Durrat al-fākhirah of Ibn ‘Arabī: […], Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 21:

     Do the companions of Muḥammad, the blessing and peace of God be upon him, think that they can have him all to themselves; by God, we will crowd in on them until they realize that they have left to come after them men (worthy of him).

   • 1974, James A[lbert] Michener, “A Smell of Sheep”, in Centennial: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Dial Press, 2015, →ISBN, page 685:

     Back east, wherever you look, you see something. The world crowds in on you. I can't tell you how homesick I got for the prairies, where a man can look for miles and not see anything … not feel crowded.

   • 2003, Helen Rappaport, “Balmoral Castle”, in Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion (ABC-CLIO Biographical Companions), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 56, column 2:

     But in 1883 the queen [Queen Victoria] abandoned this place [Glas-allt-Shiel] on the death of John Brown; wherever she now went the memories crowded in on her.

Synonyms

• interfere
• intrude
• muscle in on

Translations

to join when not wanted — see also intrude