crawl
/kɹɔːl/ verb, noun
Forms crawls crawling crawled
- verb (intransitive) To move by dragging one's body along or close to a surface, like a worm or insect, or on one's hands and knees, like a human baby. “Clutching my wounded side, I crawled back to the trench.”
- verb (intransitive) To move or progress slowly or laboriously, or with great difficulty (for example due to feebleness) or frequent stops. “The rush-hour traffic crawled around the bypass.”
- verb (intransitive) To advance by guile and servility; to act in a servile manner, trying to please someone in order to gain favor. “Don’t come crawling to me with your useless apologies!”
- verb To spread by extending tendrils, stems, or branches; to creep or trail (as a vine). “The old house was covered in vines crawling over every available surface.”
- verb (intransitive, transitive) To swim using the crawl stroke. “I think I'll crawl instead of breaststroke.”
- verb (intransitive) Followed by with: see crawl with.
- verb (intransitive) To feel a swarming sensation; to have a sensation like that produced by insects crawling over one's body. “The horrible sight made my skin crawl.”
- verb (intransitive, of paint or varnish, ceramic glaze, etc) To spread unevenly; to fail to be or remain evenly spread.
- noun The act of moving slowly on hands and knees, etc.
- noun The act of sequentially visiting a series of similar establishments (i.e., a bar crawl).
- noun A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick.
- noun (figurative) A very slow pace. “My computer has slowed down to a crawl since I installed that software package.”
- noun (television, film) A piece of horizontally or vertically scrolling text overlaid on the main image.
- noun A pen or enclosure of stakes and hurdles for holding fish.
Synonyms
kowtow grovel creep inch plod scuttle wriggle front crawl Australian crawl crawling creeping fawn cringe cower
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English crawlen, crewlen, creulen, crallen, *cravelen, from Old Norse krafla (compare Danish kravle (“to crawl, creep”), Swedish kravla, kräla (“to creep, crawl”)), from Proto-Germanic *krablōną (compare Saterland Frisian krabbelje, Dutch krabbelen, German Low German krabbeln, German krabbeln), frequentative of *krabbōną (“to scratch, scrape”). Compare also Saterland Frisian krauelje (“to crawl, scuttle”), West Frisian kreauwelje (“to crawl”), Dutch krevelen, krieuwelen (“to crawl”), German Low German kribbeln, German kribbeln (“to creep, crawl, tingle”). See also crab, crabble.
Compare kraal.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep.
- verb Hence, to move or advance in a feeble, slow, or timorous manner.
- noun The act or motion of crawling;
- noun A pen or inclosure of stakes and hurdles on the seacoast, for holding fish.
Etymology [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
Etymology [Cf. Kraal.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “crawl”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details