crowd-surf
verb
variants
or crowd surf
crowd-surfed or crowd surfed; crowd-surfing or crowd surfing
: to lie down and be carried over the top of a crowd (as at a rock concert) with one's weight supported by the people in the crowd
Lemon lifted her arms, launched herself at the crowd gathered around the stage, and crowd-surfed. As Blue slid down to the stage, Jules launched herself after Lemon.—
Jude Watson
Jude WatsonAnd I'm passed overhead, hand to hand, crowd surfing toward the door. I'm floating. I'm flying.—Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk
crowd-surfer
noun
or crowd surfer
plural crowd-surfers or crowd surfers
This was Woodstock with a giant mosh pit full of colliding bodies and crowd-surfers, roiling and pullulating to the music.
—The New York Times
The New York Times
crowd-surfing
noun
or crowd surfing
These days, enjoying the show often means "moshing." That is approximately the sound made in the "pit," the roiling sea of flesh in front of the stage where youngsters hurl themselves against one another. In a variation of that called "crowd surfing," bodies get tossed into the air and are passed overhead, from hand to hand. Members of the audience climb onto the stage and dive off.
—Michael J. Ybarra
Michael J. Ybarra
Examples of crowd-surf in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Dowdle scored from a yard out to give Carolina a 20-17 lead, crowd-surfing the last few inches on his back.
—Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 5 Oct. 2025
By the end of the night, so many fans had crowd-surfed from the pit to the stage, clambering onto the platform, that the band members were barely visible.
—Audrey Gibbs, Nashville Tennessean, 16 Sep. 2025
Someone used a fence to crowd-surf over thousands. Inside Madison Square Garden, basketball perfection just happened.
—James L. Edwards Iii, New York Times, 17 May 2025
His first such performance came at age 14 on national TV when a teenage Malin crowd-surfed during a Saturday Night Live performance from the band Fear.
—Shania Russell, EW.com, 15 June 2023
Models walked the runway like rock stars, spinning around at the end of the platform to trust-fall into a pit of strangers and crowd-surf across the room.
—Tara Gonzalez, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 Feb. 2023
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Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 5 Oct. 2025
By the end of the night, so many fans had crowd-surfed from the pit to the stage, clambering onto the platform, that the band members were barely visible.
—Audrey Gibbs, Nashville Tennessean, 16 Sep. 2025
Someone used a fence to crowd-surf over thousands. Inside Madison Square Garden, basketball perfection just happened.
—James L. Edwards Iii, New York Times, 17 May 2025
His first such performance came at age 14 on national TV when a teenage Malin crowd-surfed during a Saturday Night Live performance from the band Fear.
—Shania Russell, EW.com, 15 June 2023
Models walked the runway like rock stars, spinning around at the end of the platform to trust-fall into a pit of strangers and crowd-surf across the room.
—Tara Gonzalez, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 Feb. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Crowd-surf.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowd-surf. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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