creep

American  

[kreep] / krip /

verb (used without object)

creeps, present (3rd person singular) crept, past participle, past creeping present participle

1. to move slowly with the body close to the ground, as a reptile or an insect, or a person on hands and knees.

2. to approach slowly, imperceptibly, or stealthily (often followed byup ).

   We crept up and peeked over the wall.

3. to move or advance slowly or gradually.

   The automobile crept up the hill. Time just seems to creep along on these hot summer days.

   Synonyms:

   poke, dawdle, crawl, inch

4. to sneak up behind someone or without someone's knowledge (usually followed byup on ).

   The prisoners crept up on the guard and knocked him out.

5. to enter or become evident inconspicuously, gradually, or insidiously (often followed by in orinto: ) The writer's personal bias occasionally creeps into the account.

6. to move or behave timidly or servilely.

7. to grow along the ground, a wall, etc., as a plant.

8. to advance or develop gradually so as to infringe on or supplant something else.

9. Slang.

   1. to flirt with or make persistent sexual advances toward someone (often followed byon ).

      He creeps on all the women he meets.

   2. to cheat on one’s sexual partner.

      He caught his wife creepin' with the guy who lives next-door.

10. Slang. to follow someone persistently or stealthily, as on a social media website (often followed byon ).

    He spends a lot of time creeping on her Facebook profile.

11. Slang. to suddenly intrude into someone’s photograph as it is being taken.

    Who’s that creeping in the background of the picture?

12. to slip, slide, or shift gradually; become displaced.

13. (of a metal object) to become deformed, as under continuous loads or at high temperatures.

14. Nautical. to grapple (usually followed byfor ).

    The ships crept for their anchor chains.

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verb (used with object)

creeps, present (3rd person singular) crept, past participle, past creeping present participle

1. Slang. to follow persistently or stealthily, especially online.

   I’ve been creeping her blog and found some great recipes.

2. Archaic. to creep along or over.

noun

1. an act or instance of creeping.

   It seems as if time has slowed to a creep.

2. Slang. an obnoxious, disturbingly eccentric, deviant, or painfully introverted person.

3. Slang. an intelligence or counterintelligence agent; spy.

4. Slang. creeper.

5. a gradual or inconspicuous increase, advance, change, or development.

   Avoid jargon creep in your writing.

   We are seeing the steady creep of consumerism.

6. Geology.

   1. the gradual movement downhill of loose soil, rock, gravel, etc.; solifluction.

   2. the slow deformation of solid rock resulting from constant stress applied over long periods.

7. Mechanics. the gradual, permanent deformation of a body produced by a continued application of heat or stress.

8. a grappling iron; grapnel.

9. Firearms. the slack in a trigger mechanism before it releases the firing pin.

10. creep feeder.

11. Informal. the creeps, a sensation of horror, fear, disgust, etc., suggestive of the feeling induced by something crawling over the skin.

    That horror movie gave me the creeps.

verb phrase

1. creep out to cause to experience uneasiness or disgust: I was so creeped out that I had to sleep with the lights on.

   She’s been getting crank calls that are creeping her out.

   I was so creeped out that I had to sleep with the lights on.

idioms

1. make one's flesh creep, to be frightening or repellent; cause one to experience uneasiness.

   The eerie stories made our flesh creep.

creep British  

/ kriːp /

verb

1. to crawl with the body near to or touching the ground

2. to move slowly, quietly, or cautiously

3. to act in a servile way; fawn; cringe

4. to move or slip out of place, as from pressure or wear

5. (of plants) to grow along the ground or over rocks, producing roots, suckers, or tendrils at intervals

6. (of a body or substance) to become permanently deformed as a result of an applied stress, often when combined with heating

7. to develop gradually

   creeping unrest

8. to have the sensation of something crawling over the skin

9. (of metals) to undergo slow plastic deformation

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noun

1. the act of creeping or a creeping movement

2. slang a person considered to be obnoxious or servile

3. the continuous permanent deformation of a body or substance as a result of stress or heat

4. geology the gradual downwards movement of loose rock material, soil, etc, on a slope

5. a slow relative movement of two adjacent parts, structural components, etc

6. slow plastic deformation of metals

creep More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing creep

• make one's flesh creep
• the creeps

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Synonym Usage

See crawl ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• outcreep
  verb (used with object)
• creepingly
  adverb
• uncreeping
  adjective
• noncreeping
  adjective

Conjugated Forms

Present

• has crept
  perfect 3rd person singular
• have crept
  perfect
• is creeping
  progressive 3rd person singular
• has been creeping
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• have been creeping
  perfect progressive
• am creeping
  progressive 1st person singular
• creeping
  participle
• creeps
  singular 3rd person
• are creeping
  progressive

Past

• had crept
  perfect
• had been creeping
  perfect progressive
• crept
  simple
• crept
  participle
• were creeping
  progressive plural
• was creeping
  progressive singular

Future

• will creep
  simple
• will have crept
  perfect
• will have been creeping
  perfect progressive
• will be creeping
  progressive

Etymology

Origin of creep

First recorded before 900; Middle English crepen, Old English crēopan; cognate with Dutch kruipen, Old Norse krjūpa

Explanation

A beetle creeps along the ground. Moving slowly and silently, it creeps up on you. When you feel the touch of tiny insect legs on your skin, you shudder, because bugs give you the creeps. Creep has a long history and a subtle variety of meanings. In its earliest recorded usage, it described the movement of legless creatures like snakes and worms. By the sixteenth century, creep meant "move slowly" and "move with stealth" like when you creep up to your brother to startle him. Charles Dickens coined the phrase, the creeps, to suggest the shuddering sensation you get when you see something gross and scary. A creep is a person who makes your skin crawl, a meaning that has been used in American English since 1935.

Example Sentences

McCord felt sorry for Baldwin and tried to find him other assignments for CREEP.

From Washington Post • Jun. 5, 2022

Mr. Baldwin worked as director of security for a trucking company and as an instructor in a college program for law-enforcement officers until he was recruited by Mr. McCord to join CREEP.

From New York Times • May 10, 2022

I'm speaking of Martha Mitchell, the wife of John Mitchell, who was attorney general in the first Nixon administration and ran the Committee to Re-elect the President, also known as CREEP.

From Salon • Aug. 15, 2018

"MISSION CREEP" France said it would send up to 10 military advisers to Libya and Britain plans to dispatch up to a dozen officers to help rebels improve organization and communications.

From Reuters • Apr. 22, 2011

In the article, Martha’s husband was quoted saying that McCord wasn’t really a member of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, which came to be known eventually by the cheeky acronym CREEP.

From Slate

Related Words

• glide
• inch
• lurk
• slink
• slither
• snake
• sneak
• tiptoe
• wriggle