[syn: fawn, crawl, creep, cringe, cower, grovel]
5. swim by doing the crawl;
- Example: "European children learn the breast stroke they often don't know how to crawl";
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Crawl \Crawl\ (kr?l), n.
The act or motion of crawling; slow motion, as of a creeping
animal.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Crawl \Crawl\, n. [Cf. Kraal.]
A pen or inclosure of stakes and hurdles on the seacoast, for
holding fish.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Crawl \Crawl\ (kr[add]l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Crawled
(kr[add]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Crawling.] [Dan. kravle, or
Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw.
kr[aum]la to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to
scratch.]
1. To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a
worm; to move slowly on hands and knees; to creep.
[1913 Webster]
A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling,
as it crawls from one thing to another. --Grew.
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2. Hence, to move or advance in a feeble, slow, or timorous
manner.
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He was hardly able to crawl about the room.
--Arbuthnot.
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The meanest thing that crawl'd beneath my eyes.
--Byron.
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3. To advance slowly and furtively; to insinuate one's self;
to advance or gain influence by servile or obsequious
conduct.
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Secretly crawling up the battered walls. --Knolles.
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Hath crawled into the favor of the king. --Shak.
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Absurd opinions crawl about the world. --South.
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4. To have a sensation as of insect creeping over the body;
as, the flesh crawls. See Creep, v. i., 7.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
crawl
n 1: a very slow movement; "the traffic advanced at a crawl"
2: a swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead
accompanied by a flutter kick [syn: crawl, front crawl,
Australian crawl]
3: a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the
body; "a crawl was all that the injured man could manage";
"the traffic moved at a creep" [syn: crawl, crawling,
creep, creeping]
v 1: move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body
near the ground; "The crocodile was crawling along the
riverbed" [syn: crawl, creep]
2: feel as if crawling with insects; "My skin crawled--I was
terrified"
3: be full of; "The old cheese was crawling with maggots"
4: show submission or fear [syn: fawn, crawl, creep,
cringe, cower, grovel]
5: swim by doing the crawl; "European children learn the breast
stroke; they often don't know how to crawl"