crawl

[ krawl ]

/ krɔl /

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See synonyms for: crawl / crawling on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

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.

(of plants or vines) to extend tendrils; creep.

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.

to behave in a remorseful, abject, or cringing manner: Don't come crawling back to me asking for favors.

to be, or feel as if, overrun with crawling things: The hut crawled with lizards and insects.

Ceramics. (of a glaze) to spread unevenly over the surface of a piece.

(of paint) to raise or contract because of an imperfect bond with the underlying surface.

verb (used with object)

to visit or frequent a series of (similar businesses, especially bars): to crawl the neighborhood pubs.

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.Compare spider (def. 10).

noun

the act of crawling; a slow, crawling motion.

the visiting of a series of similar businesses, especially bars: a beer crawl;a museum crawl.

a slow pace or rate of progress: Traffic slowed to a crawl.

Swimming. a stroke in a prone position, characterized by alternate overarm movements combined with the flutter kick.

Television, Movies. titles that slowly move across a screen, providing information.

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Origin of crawl

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English craulen, crallen, from Old Norse krafla; compare Danish kravle “to crawl, creep”

synonym study for crawl

1. 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 WORDS FROM crawl

crawl·ing·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH crawl

craw, crawl

Words nearby crawl

crawdad, crawdaddy, crawfish, Crawford, Crawfordsville, crawl, crawler, crawler lane, crawler track, Crawley, crawling

Other definitions for crawl (2 of 2)

crawl²

[ krawl ]

/ krɔl /

noun Chiefly South Atlantic States.

an enclosure in shallow water on the seacoast, as for confining fish, turtles, etc.: a crab crawl.

Origin of crawl

First recorded in 1650–60; from Dutch kraal, from Spanish corral corral; cf. kraal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

MORE ABOUT CRAWL

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 snakes

To 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.

Where does crawl come from?

The first records of the term crawl come from the mid-1100s. It ultimately comes from the Old Norse krafla.

As crawling usually goes slowly, the term crawl can be applied to anything that moves slowly. Crawl is also often used in cases of regret when people are said to crawl back to where they came from. When a location is said to be crawling with something, that means that there are a lot of them there, usually referring to animals or insects. On the internet, to crawl is to digitally survey websites in order to index them for a search engine.

Did you know … ?

What are some other forms related to crawl?

crawlingly (adverb)
crawler (noun)

What are some synonyms for crawl?

What are some words that share a root or word element with crawl?

What are some words that often get used in discussing crawl?

How is crawl used in real life?

Crawl is a common word used to mean to move in a prone position close to the ground.

Hoping watching a documentary about the Arctic will cool me down a bit! I want to crawl into the tv #hottestdayoftheyear

— Phil Lester (@AmazingPhil) July 19, 2016

Gmorning.
Crawl before you walk before you run before you fly before you ASCEND TO GREATNESS
& get some food in you, maybe a banana.
Vamos!

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) November 22, 2017

And speaking of travel, big shout out here on the train to the lady who decided to let her infant crawl up and down the aisle here in business on Amtrak, including so close in front of the restroom door that I almost just stepped on her baby coming out of the bathroom. 👍

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 9, 2019

Try using crawl!

Is crawl used correctly in the following sentence?

When we did the dessert crawl, we visited a dozen bakeries in one afternoon!

How to use crawl in a sentence

Efficiency of crawl, as we mentioned above, are the benefits.
GoogleBot to soon crawl over HTTP/2|Barry Schwartz|September 17, 2020|Search Engine Land
The data we gather in TGIF show that in many cases, those solutions often do more harm than good as they are not getting indexed and they make it very difficult to get crawl data that actually reflects your website’s structure as Google sees it.
How to earn your place in Google’s index in 2020|Bartosz Góralewicz|September 14, 2020|Search Engine Land
However, for larger sites, having multiple URLs that host the same content may consume crawl budget and dilute signals, inhibiting a search engine’s ability to index and evaluate your pages.
How content consolidation can help boost your rankings|George Nguyen|September 10, 2020|Search Engine Land
If you start accumulating a bunch of those, they can definitely hurt your crawl limit, to a point where crawlers will eventually stop crawling without getting to the page you need indexed.
Top six ways to optimize crawl budget for SEO|April Brown|September 9, 2020|Search Engine Watch

Although most people might have heard of crawl budgeting, they might have considered using it, to begin with, or even think about it, when it comes to SEO.
Top six ways to optimize crawl budget for SEO|April Brown|September 9, 2020|Search Engine Watch
“Now get on your knees and crawl,” he demanded with the slap of a leather horse crop against the palm of his hand.
Whip It: Secrets of a Dominatrix|Justin Jones|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Klain is not the first to crawl out of the swamp of Biden World on to the larger stage.
Where There’s Trouble, You’ll Usually Find Joe Biden|Lloyd Green|October 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Social media is heavily censored, with Instagram blocked and access to various websites operating at a crawl.
Occupy Hong Kong Hangs On|Lennox Samuels|September 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But as the opening crawl assures, “none of this is canon, so just relax.”
‘Phineas and Ferb’ Pilot Disney’s Premier Voyage into ‘Star Wars’|Jason Lynch|July 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
John Huston recalls in his autobiography, An Open Book, a time when he asked Mitchum to crawl across the grass on his elbows.
The Stacks: Mr. Bad Taste and Trouble Himself: Robert Mitchum|Robert Ward|July 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He felt himself the meanest, vilest thing a-crawl upon this sinful earth, and she—dear God!
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
Crawl up there again, Sarge, and look straight down at the first ledge from the bottom.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
In a moment it began to crawl down the side of the street, seeming to fill the whole city with silence.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
In the first place, as to hours—they never leave the ball-room until utterly exhausted, and scarcely fit to crawl to bed.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness|Florence Hartley
Bud slid noiselessly out of the car and under it, head to the rear where he could crawl out quickly.
Cabin Fever|B. M. Bower

British Dictionary definitions for crawl (1 of 2)

crawl¹

/ (krɔːl) /

verb (intr)

to move slowly, either by dragging the body along the ground or on the hands and knees

to proceed or move along very slowly or laboriouslythe traffic crawled along the road

to act or behave in a servile manner; fawn; cringe

to be or feel as if overrun by something unpleasant, esp crawling creaturesthe pile of refuse crawled with insects

(of insects, worms, snakes, etc) to move with the body close to the ground

to swim the crawl

noun

a slow creeping pace or motion

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

Derived forms of crawl

crawlingly, adverb

Word Origin for crawl

C14: probably from Old Norse krafla to creep; compare Swedish kravla, Middle Low German krabbelen to crawl, Old Norse krabbi crab 1

British Dictionary definitions for crawl (2 of 2)

crawl²

/ (krɔːl) /

noun

an enclosure in shallow, coastal water for fish, lobsters, etc

Word Origin for crawl

C17: from Dutch kraal kraal

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

crawl

Origin of crawl

synonym study for crawl

OTHER WORDS FROM crawl

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH crawl

Words nearby crawl

Other definitions for crawl (2 of 2)

Origin of crawl

MORE ABOUT CRAWL

What does crawl mean?

Where does crawl come from?

Did you know … ?

How is crawl used in real life?

Try using crawl!

Words related to crawl

How to use crawl in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for crawl (1 of 2)

Derived forms of crawl

Word Origin for crawl

British Dictionary definitions for crawl (2 of 2)

Word Origin for crawl