CRUISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cruise mean? 

• CRUISE (noun)
  The noun CRUISE has 1 sense:

1. an ocean trip taken for pleasure

  Familiarity information: CRUISE used as a noun is very rare.

• CRUISE (verb)
  The verb CRUISE has 4 senses:

1. drive around aimlessly but ostentatiously and at leisure

2. travel at a moderate speed

3. look for a sexual partner in a public place

4. sail or travel about for pleasure, relaxation, or sightseeing

  Familiarity information: CRUISE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRUISE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An ocean trip taken for pleasure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

cruise; sail

Hypernyms ("cruise" is a kind of...):

ocean trip; voyage (an act of traveling by water)

Derivation:

cruise (sail or travel about for pleasure, relaxation, or sightseeing)

• CRUISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cruise    ... he / she / it cruises   
Past simple: cruised   
Past participle: cruised   
-ing form: cruising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Drive around aimlessly but ostentatiously and at leisure

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

She cruised the neighborhood in her new convertible

Hypernyms (to "cruise" is one way to...):

journey; travel (travel upon or across)

Domain category:

driving (the act of controlling and steering the movement of a vehicle or animal)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They cruise the countryside

Sense 2

Meaning:

Travel at a moderate speed

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

Please keep your seat belt fastened while the plane is reaching cruising altitude

Hypernyms (to "cruise" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Domain category:

air; air travel; aviation (travel via aircraft)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cruise"):

stooge (cruise in slow or routine flights)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The cars cruise down the avenue

Derivation:

cruiser (a car in which policemen cruise the streets; equipped with radiotelephonic communications to headquarters)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Look for a sexual partner in a public place

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

The men were cruising the park

Hypernyms (to "cruise" is one way to...):

look; search (search or seek)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Sail or travel about for pleasure, relaxation, or sightseeing

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

We were cruising in the Caribbean

Hypernyms (to "cruise" is one way to...):

navigate; sail; voyage (travel on water propelled by wind or by other means)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

cruise (an ocean trip taken for pleasure)

cruiser (a large motorboat that has a cabin and plumbing and other conveniences necessary for living on board)

 Context examples 

It would be the greatest pleasure to him to have her there to the last moment before he sailed, and perhaps find her there still when he came in from his first cruise.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

As it cruised around Jupiter, Galileo also happened to fly right through an explosive event caused by the tangling and snapping of magnetic field lines.

(Fresh Results from NASA’s Galileo Spacecraft 20 Years On, NASA)

Well now, look here, I'll answer these four p'ints; one after another I'll answer 'em. I made a hash o' this cruise, did I?

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The vortex should be free to change traffic lanes and cruise anywhere in between the jets.

(Hubble Sees Neptune's Mysterious Shrinking Storm, NASA)

The team looked at samples collected during a research cruise to the tropical Pacific.

(Arsenic-breathing microbes discovered in the tropical Pacific Ocean, National Science Foundation)

A friend of mine and I had such a lovely cruise together off the Western Islands.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The recent findings are based on an analysis of data taken by 50 research cruises that gathered more than 100,000 water samples.

(Global ocean is absorbing more carbon from fossil fuel emissions, NOAA)

I had a share of both last cruise, which comes from changing a line-of-battleship for a frigate.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This accomplished, he cruised back and forth across what he knew must be their course.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Earth has its own polar stratospheric clouds, which typically form above the North Pole and South Pole between 49,000 and 82,000 feet (15 to 25 kilometers) — well above cruising altitude for airplanes.

(NASA Finds Methane Ice Cloud in Titan's Stratosphere, NASA)