crawl´er

crawl¹ «krl», verb, noun.

–v.i.

1. to move slowly by pulling the body along the ground: »

Worms and snakes crawl.

2. to creep on hands and knees: »

A baby crawls before it walks. The boys crawled through a hole in the wall.

3. Figurative. to move very slowly: »

The heavy traffic crawled through the narrow tunnel.

4. to swarm with crawling things: »

The ground under the garbage can was crawling with ants.

5. to feel creepy: »

My flesh crawled at the thought of the huge black snakes.

6. Figurative. to move stealthily or slavishly: »

The leopard crawled toward its prey. The dog crawled to its master's feet.

7. to creep; trail: »

A green…vine that crawls along the side of yon small hill (Milton).

8. to swim with alternate overarm strokes and a fast flutter kick.

–v.t.

to crawl upon: »

The veriest wretch that crawls the earth (Eliza Parsons).

–n.

1. a crawling; slow movement: »

The crawl of traffic annoyed the impatient driver. Figurative. His progress seemed a mere crawl.

2. a fast way of swimming by alternate overarm strokes combined with a fast flutter kick.

3. British Slang. a round made through the pubs or bars; pub-crawl.

╂[apparently < Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic krafla)]

–crawl´er, noun.

Synonym Study intransitive verb. 1, 3, 6 Crawl, creep, used literally and figuratively, mean to move slowly. Crawl emphasizes the slow, dragging movement of a worm pulling its body along the ground, and is used of a thing or person that moves in this way or seems to grovel in the dirt like a worm: »

He tried to crawl back into favor.

Creep emphasizes the slow movement of a person going on hands and knees or the stealthy manner of a cat: »

The days creep by. Danger creeps nearer.

crawl² «krl», noun.

an enclosure of stakes in shallow water, used to hold turtles, fish, and the like.

╂[< Dutch kraal < Spanish corral. See etym. of doublet corral. (Cf. ↑corral)]