crawl

[krawl]

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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 (especially bars): to crawl the neighborhood pubs.

Also spider. Digital Technology. to retrieve (data) from a website using a computer program, as in order to index web pages for a search engine: Search engines are constantly crawling the web.

noun

act of crawling; a slow, crawling motion.

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.

Origin of crawl

1150–1200; Middle English crawlen < Old Norse krafla; compare Danish kravle “to crawl, creep”

Related formscrawl·ing·ly, adverb

Can be confusedcraw crawl

Synonym study

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.

crawl

[krawl]

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

1650–60; < Dutch kraal < Spanish corral corral; cf. kraal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for crawl

poke, slither, drag, wriggle, plod, slide, squirm, clamber, inch, creep, writhe, grovel, lag, lollygag, worm, scrabble, fawn, toady, cringe, truckle

Examples from the Web for crawl

Contemporary Examples of crawl

“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
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
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
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
In the 20th century, we learned that we could crawl inside of a photograph and find ourselves.
New Getty Retrospective On Minor White’s Metamorphosing Camera
Sarah Bay Williams
July 10, 2014

Historical Examples of crawl

We can only crawl along, having to walk and lead the horses, or at least drag them.
Explorations in Australia
John Forrest
"And so belabored as to be scarce able to crawl along it," cried a third.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water; which he did, lying down in the stern-sheets.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
Injured men, shot from their saddles, were seeking to crawl out of the way.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
He had the crawl of the reptile,—he had, also, its poison and its fangs.
Leila, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for crawl

crawl

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 Formscrawlingly, 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

crawl

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

Word Origin and History for crawl

c.1200, creulen, from a Scandinavian source, perhaps Old Norse krafla "to claw (one's way)," from the same root as crab (n.1). If there was an Old English *craflian, it has not been recorded. Related: Crawled; crawling.

1818, from crawl (v.); in the swimming sense from 1903, the stroke developed by Frederick Cavill, well-known English swimmer who emigrated to Australia and modified the standard stroke of the day after observing South Seas islanders. So called because the swimmer's motion in the water resembles crawling.