cruise

C3R1U1I1S1E1
UK/kɹuːz/British, Southern, Standard/kɹʉwz/US/kɹuz/Australia, New Zealand/kɹʉːz/

noun

A sea or lake voyage, especially one taken for pleasure.

“Near-synonym: car show”

Very commonScrabble 8

Meanings

cruise1

nouncruise (plural cruises)

plural cruises · alternative obsolete cruize

  1. A sea or lake voyage, especially one taken for pleasure.

    He departed with the Naniwa and the Hashidate²⁰ for a two day cruise, skirting the Wuchiu and Hui Ch’uan Islands and the shore of Fukien Province.

    1936, Edwin A. Falk, Togo and the Rise of Japanese Sea Power, Longmans, Green and Co., →OCLC, →OL, page 229
    1 more example

    Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.

    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
  2. aeronauticsPortion of aircraft travel at a constant airspeed and altitude between ascent and descent phases.
  3. USinformalgovernmentA period spent in the Marine Corps.

    I ended my cruise of four years in the Marine Corps at the first Officers' Training Camp for enlisted men at Quantico […]

    1919, United States. Marine Corps, Recruiters' Bulletin, page 16
    1 more example

    The New Orleans had to have numerous alterations made, and as the Chicago was just about going into commission, I was ordered to that ship to finish my cruise.

    2015, George Barnett, Andy Barnett, George Barnett, Marine Corps Commandant: A Memoir, 1877-1923
  4. A car enthusiasts' event where they drive their vehicles in a group.

    Near-synonym: car show

    Synonyms: car show

  5. slangbodybuildingA period of reducing the dosage of PEDs instead of cycling them off as opposed to a full-dosed cycle (blast).
verbcruise (third-person singular simple present cruises, present participle cruising, simple past and past participle cruised)

present singular third person cruises · participle present cruising · participle past cruised · past cruised · alternative obsolete cruize

  1. intransitiveTo sail about, especially for pleasure.

    the romance of cruising down the Nile

    1 more example

    He and Gerald usually challenged the rollers in a sponson canoe when Gerald was there for the weekend; or, when Lansing came down, the two took long swims seaward or cruised about in Gerald's dory, clad in their swimming-suits; and Selwyn's youth became renewed in a manner almost ridiculous,[…].

    1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  2. transitiveTo move about an area leisurely in the hope of discovering something, or looking for custom.
  3. ambitransitivebusinessTo inspect (forest land) for the purpose of estimating the quantity of lumber it will yield.
  4. ambitransitivecolloquialTo actively seek a romantic partner or casual sexual partner by moving about a particular area; to troll.
  5. colloquialtransitiveTo attempt to pick up as a casual sexual partner; hit on

    1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure Lot of not too bad looking boys there but when M came in I knew right then: him. Very thin & feminine, brown hair fluffed around his sharp featured face. So I began cruising him.

    2 more examples

    I saw you cruise that white guy over there. The one with the wavy hair (yeah). I cruised him too, but I couldn't get through.

    1986, Blackberri, “Beautiful Blackman”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 59

    We see him [Joseph Huff-Hannon] approach several sets of men to ak if they have "a minute to talk about climate change"; they dismiss him out of hand, clearly more interesting in playing volleyball and cruising—including cruising Huff-Hannon himself—than in listening to bad news.

    2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 144
  6. intransitivechild developmentTo walk while holding on to an object (stage in development of ambulation, typically occurring at 10 months).
  7. intransitivehobbiesTo win easily and convincingly.

    Germany cruised to a World Cup victory over the short-handed Australians.

  8. intransitiveTo take part in a cruise (car enthusiasts' event where they drive their vehicles in a group).
  9. slangbodybuildingTo have a period of reducing the dosage of PEDs instead of cycling them off as opposed to going through a full-dosed cycle (blast).

    blast and cruise

cruise2

nouncruise (plural cruises)

plural cruises

  1. A small cup; cruse.

    And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

    King James translators, 1 Kings 17:12

Cruise3

proper noun

alternative Cruce · alternative Cruse

  1. A surname from Anglo-Norman.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA car enthusiasts' event where they drive their vehicles in a group.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nounan ocean trip taken for pleasure

Similar
Broader
ocean tripvoyage

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latincrux
  2. Middle Dutchcruce
  3. Dutchkruisen“cross, sail around”
  4. Englishcruise

Borrowed from Dutch kruisen (“cross, sail around”), from kruis (“cross”), from Middle Dutch cruce, from Latin crux.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic رِحْلَة بَحْرِيَّة
  • رِحْلَة بَحْرِيَّة (riḥla baḥriyya)sea voyage
Bulgarian пъту́ване по море́, круи́з
  • пъту́ване по море́ (pătúvane po moré)sea voyage
  • круи́з (kruíz)sea voyage
  • кръсто́свам (krăstósvam)to move leisurely
Catalan creuer
  • creuersea voyage
Chinese Cantonese 巡航
  • 巡航 (ceon⁴ hong⁴)sea voyage
Chinese Mandarin 巡航
  • 巡航 (xúnháng)sea voyage
Czech plavba, výlet lodí
  • plavbasea voyage
  • výlet lodísea voyage
Danish krydstogt, sørejse
  • krydstogtsea voyage
  • sørejsesea voyage
Dutch cruise, zeereis
  • cruisesea voyage
  • zeereissea voyage
  • varento sail about
  • cruisento seek a sexual partner
Esperanto krozo, krozi
  • krozosea voyage
  • krozito sail about
  • krozito move leisurely
  • krozito seek a sexual partner
Estonian kruiis, lantima
  • kruiissea voyage
  • lantimato seek a sexual partner
Finnish risteily, laivamatka
  • risteilysea voyage
  • laivamatkasea voyage
  • risteilläto sail about
  • kulkea matkanopeudellato travel at constant speed
  • ajaa matkanopeuttato travel at constant speed
  • kuljeksiato move leisurely
  • kuljeskellato move leisurely
  • katsellato move leisurely
  • arvioidaforestry: to estimate the quantity of lumber
  • kävellä tukea vastenchild development: to walk while holding on to an object
  • kävellä tukienchild development: to walk while holding on to an object
  • voittaa liput liehuensports: to win easily and convincingly
  • kruisaillato seek a sexual partner
French croisière
  • croisièresea voyage
German Kreuzfahrt, Seereise
  • Kreuzfahrtsea voyage
  • Seereisesea voyage
Hebrew שיט, הַפְלָגַת נֹפֶשׁ
  • שיט (shait')sea voyage
  • הַפְלָגַת נֹפֶשׁ (haflagat nofesh)sea voyage
  • קְרוּז (kruz)sea voyage
  • שָׁט (shát)to sail about
  • שׁוֹטֵט (shotét)to move leisurely
Hungarian hajókörút
  • hajókörútsea voyage
Irish aistear mara, turas mara
  • aistear marasea voyage
  • turas marasea voyage
  • crúsáilto seek a sexual partner
Italian crociera, navigare
  • crocierasea voyage
  • navigareto sail about
Japanese 巡航, クルーズ
  • 巡航 (junkō)sea voyage
  • クルーズ (kurūzu)sea voyage
Korean 순항, 크루즈
  • 순항 (sunhang)sea voyage
  • 크루즈 (keurujeu)sea voyage
Norwegian Bokmål cruise, sjøreise
  • cruisesea voyage
  • sjøreisesea voyage
Polish rejs
  • rejssea voyage
Portuguese cruzeiro, caçar
  • cruzeirosea voyage
  • caçarto seek a sexual partner
Romanian croazieră
  • croazierăsea voyage
Russian круи́з, морско́е путеше́ствие
  • круи́з (kruíz)sea voyage
  • морско́е путеше́ствие (morskóje putešéstvije)sea voyage
  • пла́вание (plávanije)sea voyage
  • пла́вать (plávatʹ)to sail about
  • плыть (plytʹ)to sail about
Slovak plavba
  • plavbasea voyage
Spanish crucero, navegar
  • crucerosea voyage
  • navegarto sail about
Swedish kryssning, sjöresa
  • kryssningsea voyage
  • sjöresasea voyage
Turkish gemi gezisi, gemi seyahati
  • gemi gezisisea voyage
  • gemi seyahatisea voyage
  • mavi yolculuksea voyage
Ukrainian круї́з, пла́вання
  • круї́з (krujíz)sea voyage
  • пла́вання (plávannja)sea voyage
  • морська́ по́дорож (morsʹká pódorož)sea voyage
Welsh mordaith, mordeithio
  • mordaithsea voyage
  • mordeithioto sail about
  • mordwyoto sail about
  • hwylioto sail about

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with cruise

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Cite this entry
APA

cruise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cruise

MLA

“cruise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cruise. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cruise,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cruise.

Source: cruise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.