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Webster 1913 Edition


Crawl

Crawl

(kra̤l)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Crawled
(kra̤ld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Crawling
.]
[Dan.
kravle
, or Icel.
krafla
, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw.
kräla
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.
A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling, as it
crawls
from one thing to another.
Grew.
2.
Hence,
to move or advance in a feeble, slow, or timorous manner.
He was hardly able to
crawl
about the room.
Arbuthnot.
The meanest thing that
crawl’d
beneath my eyes.
Byron.
3.
To advance slowly and furtively; to insinuate one's self; to advance or gain influence by servile or obsequious conduct.
Secretly
crawling
up the battered walls.
Knolles.
Hath
crawled
into the favor of the king.
Shakespeare
Absurd opinions
crawl
about the world.
South.
4.
To have a sensation as of insect creeping over the body;
as, the flesh
crawls
. See
Creep
,
Verb.
I.
, 7.

Crawl

(kr?l)
,
Noun.
The act or motion of crawling; slow motion, as of a creeping animal.

Crawl

,
Noun.
[Cf.
Kraal
.]
A pen or inclosure of stakes and hurdles on the seacoast, for holding fish.

Webster 1828 Edition


Crawl

CRAWL

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To creep; to move slowly by thrusting or drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; or to move slowly on the hands and knees or feet, as a human being. A worm crawls on the earth; a boy crawls into a cavern, or up a tree.
2.
To move or walk weakly, slowly, or timorously.
He was hardly able to crawl about the room.
3.
To creep; to advance slowly and slyly; to insinuate ones self; as, to crawl into favor. [This use is vulgar.]
4.
To move about; to move in any direction; used in contempt.
Absurd opinions crawl about the world.
5.
To have the sensation of insects creeping about the body; as, the flesh crawls.

CRAWL

,
Noun.
A pen or inclosure of stakes and hurdles on the sea coast for containing fish.

Definition 2024


crawl

crawl

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: krôl, IPA(key): /kɹɔːl/
  • Rhymes: -ɔːl
  • (US) enPR: krôl, IPA(key): /kɹɔl/
  • (cotcaught merger) enPR: kräl, IPA(key): /kɹɑl/

Verb

crawl (third-person singular simple present crawls, present participle crawling, simple past and past participle crawled)

  1. (intransitive) To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground.
    • Grew
      A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling, as it crawls from one thing to another.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess:
      ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’
    Clutching my wounded side, I crawled back to the trench.
  2. (intransitive) To move forward slowly, with frequent stops.
    The rush-hour traffic crawled around the bypass.
  3. (intransitive) To act in a servile manner.
    Don't come crawling to me with your useless apologies!
    • Shakespeare
      hath crawled into the favour of the king
  4. (intransitive, with "with") See crawl with.
  5. (intransitive) To feel a swarming sensation.
    The horrible sight made my skin crawl.
  6. (intransitive) To swim using the crawl stroke.
    I think I'll crawl the next hundred metres.
  7. (transitive) To move over an area on hands and knees.
    The baby crawled the entire second floor.
  8. (intransitive) To visit while becoming inebriated.
    They crawled the downtown bars.
  9. (transitive) To visit files or web sites in order to index them for searching.
    Yahoo Search has updated its Slurp Crawler to crawl web sites faster and more efficiently.
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations

Noun

crawl (plural crawls)

  1. The act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops
  2. A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick
  3. (figuratively) A very slow pace.
    My computer has slowed down to a crawl since I installed that software package.
  4. (television, film) A piece of horizontally scrolling text overlaid on the main image.
    • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games
      The opening crawl (and a stirring propaganda movie) informs us that “The Hunger Games” are an annual event in Panem, a North American nation divided into 12 different districts, each in service to the Capitol, a wealthy metropolis that owes its creature comforts to an oppressive dictatorship.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Compare kraal.

Noun

crawl (plural crawls)

  1. A pen or enclosure of stakes and hurdles for holding fish.

French

Etymology

Borrowing from English crawl.

Noun

crawl m (plural crawls)

  1. crawl (swimming stroke)

Italian

Etymology

Borrowing from English crawl.

Noun

crawl m (plural crawl)

  1. crawl (swimming stroke)

Portuguese

Noun

crawl m (uncountable)

  1. crawl (swimming stroke)

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowing from English crawl.

Noun

crawl c (uncountable)

  1. crawl; swimming stroke

Declension

Related terms