crawl
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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crawls,
present (3rd person singular)
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crawled,
past participle, past
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crawling
present participle
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to move in a prone position with the body resting on or close to the ground, as a worm or caterpillar, or on the hands and knees, as a young child.
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(of plants or vines) to extend tendrils; creep.
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to move or progress slowly or laboriously.
The line of cars crawled behind the slow-moving truck.
The work just crawled until we got the new machines.
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to behave in a remorseful, abject, or cringing manner.
Don't come crawling back to me asking for favors.
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to be, or feel as if, overrun with crawling things.
The hut crawled with lizards and insects.
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Ceramics. (of a glaze) to spread unevenly over the surface of a piece.
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(of paint) to raise or contract because of an imperfect bond with the underlying surface.
verb (used with object)
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crawls,
present (3rd person singular)
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crawled,
past participle, past
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crawling
present participle
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to visit or frequent a series of (similar businesses, especially bars).
to crawl the neighborhood pubs.
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Digital Technology. to digitally survey (websites) using a computer program, as in order to index web pages for a search engine.
Search engines are constantly crawling the web.
noun
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the act of crawling; a slow, crawling motion.
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the visiting of a series of similar businesses, especially bars.
a beer crawl;
a museum crawl.
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a slow pace or rate of progress.
Traffic slowed to a crawl.
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Swimming. a stroke in a prone position, characterized by alternate overarm movements combined with the flutter kick.
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Television, Movies. titles that slowly move across a screen, providing information.
noun
verb
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to move slowly, either by dragging the body along the ground or on the hands and knees
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to proceed or move along very slowly or laboriously
the traffic crawled along the road
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to act or behave in a servile manner; fawn; cringe
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to be or feel as if overrun by something unpleasant, esp crawling creatures
the pile of refuse crawled with insects
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(of insects, worms, snakes, etc) to move with the body close to the ground
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to swim the crawl
noun
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a slow creeping pace or motion
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Also called: Australian crawl. front crawl. swimming a stroke in which the feet are kicked like paddles while the arms reach forward and pull back through the water
noun
Usage
What does crawl mean? To crawl is to move along, close to the ground, either by wriggling the body or using hands and knees, as in The baby crawled along the floor on her hands and knees. Many types of animals crawl along the ground, such as worms, caterpillars, and snakesTo crawl also means to creep or to extend tendrils, like a vine up a ladder. More generally, to crawl means to move slowly or with a lot of effort, as in School was so boring today that the time just crawled along. To crawl also means to visit a series of similar businesses, most commonly bars or pubs. A pub crawl is an event during which participants will visit several pubs, one after another. Example: The traffic slowed to a crawl on my way home from work because of an accident.
Synonym Usage
Crawl, creep refer to methods of moving like reptiles or worms, or on all fours. They are frequently interchangeable, but crawl is used of a more prostrate movement than creep : A dog afraid of punishment crawls toward his master. Creep expresses slow progress: A child creeps before walking or running.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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crawlsimple
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crawlssimple
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have crawledperfect
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has crawledperfect
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am crawlingprogressive
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are crawlingprogressive
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is crawlingprogressive
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have been crawlingperfect progressive
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has been crawlingperfect progressive
Past
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crawledsimple
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had crawledperfect
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was crawlingprogressive
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were crawlingprogressive
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had been crawlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crawl1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English craulen, crallen, from Old Norse krafla; compare Danish kravle “to crawl, creep”
Origin of crawl2
First recorded in 1650–60; from Dutch kraal, from Spanish corral corral; cf. kraal
Explanation
To crawl is to move slowly across the floor on your hands and knees. Before they learn to walk, most babies crawl. You might crawl around looking for a lost earring, or watch a spider crawl across your ceiling. The slow, creeping movement itself is a crawl, too: "Traffic was moving at a crawl." When your dog has fleas, he crawls with them, and if something gives you a creepy, prickling sensation, it makes your skin crawl. Crawl probably comes from the Old Norse krafla, "to claw one's way," which shares a root with crab.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Pull over to use the bathroom, switch between speed limits, and wait for an inevitable bout of traffic to slow the car’s pace to a crawl for who knows how long.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
"I shut him out of my mind for a long time and it's not fair that he's managed to crawl his way back in," the statement read.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
To access the Ambassador Bridge, trucks now crawl down a Windsor road with more than a dozen intersections with traffic lights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Today, rows of giant African snails crawl inside wooden pens in Adjoa, a coastal community where fishing families are testing the new source of income.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
When I think about explaining that to Dad, my face feels hot and I want to crawl under the big rock.
From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins
And sheer uncertainty abounds over how to handle raw fruits and veggies while this parasite crawls about.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
OpenAI crawls the web with bots to build an index for ChatGPT, just like Google does.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Soon, a mist erupts on a far end of the field; a lone figure emerges who crawls and then walks to the center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2025
Residents across the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales have been waiting anxiously as Cyclone Alfred crawls towards them, leaving thousands in the dark.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025
He can remember all the times he and Manny waited for it to rise before pulling inside, and his stomach crawls up into his throat.
From "Dear Martin" by Nic Stone
"We give site owners clear controls to decide whether pages can be crawled or indexed, and we always respect those directives."
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Roa and his companions initially crawled and then cut a hole to reach the site.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
So, while the Dodgers crawled out of the hole with a season-high 17 hits, the steep cost heightens the pressure on the rest of the rotation the rest of the series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
This time the Knicks crawled all the way home to prevail in the final seconds, 107-106, in one of the craziest rallies in league history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
“They’re sleeping now. After they had eaten all they could hold, they crawled down in the straw and went to sleep.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Footage shared by the country's prime minister office shows soliders carrying survivors and crawling across thick slates of mud to reach others.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
They want AI agents crawling through messages to have unfettered access to every update on products, earnings and strategic initiatives, The Wall Street Journal reports.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Social media platforms and message boards are crawling with asks for reliable weather app recommendations, and the answers can vary wildly.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
“It’s like this that humanism itself gets swallowed up by nihilism,” he adds, concretizing that image in his movie with many scenes of environmental degradation realized as crawling blobs of death.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Flames quickly spread along the coast, crawling through dead fields and climbing up dead trees.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
