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Crawl vs. Creep

Crawl and Creep Definitions

Crawl

To move slowly on the hands and knees or by dragging the body along the ground; creep
The baby crawled across the floor.

Creep

To move with the body close to the ground, as on hands and knees.

Crawl

To advance slowly, feebly, laboriously, or with frequent stops
We crawled along in traffic until we reached the highway.

Creep

To move stealthily or cautiously.

Crawl

To proceed or act servilely
"She was going to come crawling back to me, eloquently detailing exactly how sorry she was" (Emily Griffin).

Creep

To move or proceed very slowly
Traffic creeps at that hour.
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Crawl

To be or feel as if swarming or covered with moving things
The accident scene was crawling with police officers. My flesh crawled in horror.

Creep

To grow or spread along a surface, rooting at intervals or clinging by means of suckers or tendrils.

Crawl

To swim the crawl.

Creep

To grow horizontally under the ground, as the rhizomes of many plants.

Crawl

The action of moving slowly on the hands or knees or dragging the body along the ground.

Creep

To slip out of place; shift gradually.
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Crawl

An extremely slow pace
Traffic was moving at a crawl.

Creep

To have a tingling sensation, made by or as if by things moving stealthily
A moan that made my flesh creep.

Crawl

(Sports) A rapid swimming stroke consisting of alternating overarm strokes and a flutter kick.

Creep

The act of creeping; a creeping motion or progress.

Crawl

A set of letters or figures that move across, up, or down a movie or television screen, usually giving information, such as film credits or weather alerts. Also called crawler.

Creep

(Slang) An annoyingly unpleasant, unsettling, or repulsive person.
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Crawl

A social activity that consists of going to a series of related establishments one after the other
A bar crawl.
A museum crawl.

Creep

A slow flow of metal when under high temperature or great pressure.

Crawl

A pen in shallow water, as for confining fish or turtles.

Creep

A slow change in a characteristic of electronic equipment, such as a decrease in power with continued usage.

Crawl

(intransitive) To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground.
Clutching my wounded side, I crawled back to the trench.

Creep

A usually unplanned and gradual shift or increase in uses or objectives away from what was originally specified or limited. Often used in combination
The function creep of using social security numbers for general identification purposes.
Mission creep from a military peacekeeping role to one of providing economic development.

Crawl

(intransitive) To move forward slowly, with frequent stops.
The rush-hour traffic crawled around the bypass.

Creep

(Geology) The slow movement of rock debris and soil down a weathered slope.

Crawl

(intransitive) To act in a servile manner.
Don’t come crawling to me with your useless apologies!

Creep

Creeps Informal A sensation of fear or repugnance, as if things were crawling on one's skin
That house gives me the creeps.

Crawl

(intransitive) Followed by with: see crawl with.

Creep

(intransitive) To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.

Crawl

(intransitive) To feel a swarming sensation.
The horrible sight made my skin crawl.

Creep

To grow across a surface rather than upwards.

Crawl

To swim using the crawl stroke.
I think I’ll crawl the next hundred metres.

Creep

(intransitive) To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.

Crawl

(transitive) To move over (an area) on hands and knees.
The baby crawled the entire second floor.

Creep

(intransitive) To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.
Prices have been creeping up all year.

Crawl

(transitive) To move over (an area) slowly, with frequent stops.
They crawled the downtown bars.

Creep

To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself.
Old age creeps upon us.

Crawl

To visit files or web sites in order to index them for searching.
Yahoo Search has updated its Slurp Crawler to crawl websites faster and more efficiently.

Creep

To slip, or to become slightly displaced.
The collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying.
The quicksilver on a mirror may creep.

Crawl

The act of moving slowly on hands and knees, etc.

Creep

To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.
A creeping sycophant.

Crawl

The act of sequentially visiting a series of similar establishments (i.e., a bar crawl).

Creep

To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.
The sight made my flesh creep.

Crawl

A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick.

Creep

To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.

Crawl

(figurative) A very slow pace.
My computer has slowed down to a crawl since I installed that software package.

Creep

To covertly have sex (with a person other than one's primary partner); to cheat with.

Crawl

A piece of horizontally or vertically scrolling text overlaid on the main image.

Creep

The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).

Crawl

A pen or enclosure of stakes and hurdles for holding fish.

Creep

A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.

Crawl

To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and knees; to creep.
A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling, as it crawls from one thing to another.

Creep

A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.

Crawl

To move or advance in a feeble, slow, or timorous manner.
He was hardly able to crawl about the room.
The meanest thing that crawl'd beneath my eyes.

Creep

(uncountable) The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
Christmas creep
Feature creep
Instruction creep
Mission creep

Crawl

To advance slowly and furtively; to insinuate one's self; to advance or gain influence by servile or obsequious conduct.
Secretly crawling up the battered walls.
Hath crawled into the favor of the king.
Absurd opinions crawl about the world.

Creep

(publishing) In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.

Crawl

The act or motion of crawling; slow motion, as of a creeping animal.

Creep

(materials science) An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.

Crawl

A pen or inclosure of stakes and hurdles on the seacoast, for holding fish.

Creep

(geology) The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.

Crawl

A very slow movement;
The traffic advanced at a crawl

Creep

Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric.

Crawl

A swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kick

Creep

A frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills.
Stop following me, you creep!

Crawl

A slow creeping mode of locomotion (on hands and knees or dragging the body);
A crawl was all that the injured man could manage
The traffic moved at a creep

Creep

(agriculture) A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.

Crawl

Move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground;
The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed

Creep

To move along the ground, or on any other surface, on the belly, as a worm or reptile; to move as a child on the hands and knees; to crawl.
Ye that walkThe earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep.

Crawl

Feel as if crawling with insects;
My skin crawled--I was terrified

Creep

To move slowly, feebly, or timorously, as from unwillingness, fear, or weakness.
The whining schoolboy . . . creeping, like snail,Unwillingly to school.
Like a guilty thing, I creep.

Crawl

Be crawling with;
The old cheese was crawling with maggots

Creep

To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or one's self; as, age creeps upon us.
The sophistry which creeps into most of the books of argument.
Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women.

Crawl

Show submission or fear

Creep

To slip, or to become slightly displaced; as, the collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying; the quicksilver on a mirror may creep.

Crawl

Swim by doing the crawl;
European children learn the breast stroke; they often don't know how to crawl

Creep

To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn; as, a creeping sycophant.
To come as humbly as they used to creep.

Creep

To grow, as a vine, clinging to the ground or to some other support by means of roots or rootlets, or by tendrils, along its length.

Creep

To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.

Creep

The act or process of creeping.

Creep

A distressing sensation, or sound, like that occasioned by the creeping of insects.
A creep of undefinable horror.
Out of the stillness, with gathering creep,Like rising wind in leaves.

Creep

A slow rising of the floor of a gallery, occasioned by the pressure of incumbent strata upon the pillars or sides; a gradual movement of mining ground.

Creep

Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric

Creep

A slow longitudinal movement or deformation

Creep

A pen that is fenced so that young animals can enter but adults cannot

Creep

A slow creeping mode of locomotion (on hands and knees or dragging the body);
A crawl was all that the injured man could manage
The traffic moved at a creep

Creep

Move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground;
The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed

Creep

To go stealthily or furtively;
..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house

Creep

Grow in such a way as to cover (a building, for example);
Ivy grew over the walls of the university buildings

Creep

Show submission or fear

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