crawl

Formscrawls, crawling, crawled

Pluralcrawls

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To move slowly along with the body close to the ground, either on hands and knees or by dragging oneself.

   Soldiers crawl under the wire during training exercises.

   She crawled through the narrow tunnel toward the light.

   Similarcreep, slither, wriggle, inch

   Note

   The bodily sense comes from Middle English crawlen, borrowed from Old Norse krafla and kin to Danish kravle and German krabbeln, all words for creeping. It takes no object: you crawl back, under, through or over something, as Margery Allingham's children crawl over each other in The China Governess (1963). When the ground itself becomes the object, the verb shifts to its transitive use.

2. 2
   nounfiguratively

   An extremely slow pace, used of movement or progress that has nearly come to a stop.

   Highway traffic slowed to a crawl during the storm.

   Negotiations proceeded at a crawl for months before the breakthrough.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To move forward slowly, making frequent stops or pauses along the way.

   Trucks crawl up the mountain pass whenever fog rolls in.

   The checkout line crawled forward all morning.

   Similarcreep, inch, trundle, dawdle

   Oppositerace, speed, zoom

4. 4
   noun

   A fast swimming stroke performed with alternating overarm pulls and a fluttering kick.

   Most competitive swimmers rely on the crawl in freestyle races.

   Her coach refined her crawl by adjusting her breathing rhythm.

   Similarfreestyle

5. 5
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To swim by means of the crawl stroke, or to cover a distance this way.

   He crawled the final hundred meters at a punishing pace.

   Triathletes usually crawl in open water because the stroke conserves energy while keeping speed.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   An outing in which a group visits a series of similar establishments in succession, such as bars or galleries.

   The art students organized a gallery crawl through the warehouse district.

   Saturday's crawl hit six breweries before midnight.

   Similartour, circuit, round

7. 7
   nouncountable

   The act of moving slowly on the hands and knees, or with the body close to the ground.

   Soldiers practiced a low crawl beneath the netting.

   Reaching the leak required a slow crawl through the attic's tight space.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To travel across or through an area on one's hands and knees.

   Technicians crawl the narrow space beneath the floor to inspect wiring.

   Investigators crawled the entire basement looking for the dropped earring.

9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To move over an area slowly, with frequent stops along the way.

   Patrol cars crawl the neighborhood on weekend nights.

   The taxi crawled the avenue, halting at every light.

   Similarcruise, prowl, creep

   Note

   Its liveliest objects are places of entertainment. You crawl the downtown bars, the same outing that gives a bar crawl its name. Games give it a second home. Fujino Omori's Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (2015) has a character who used to crawl the Dungeon. A trailer for the game Crawl invites players to crawl the dungeon, working through it room by room.

10. 10
    verbintransitive

    To act in a servile manner toward someone, abandoning one's dignity.

    Courtiers crawl before the king, hoping for favors.

    He crawled to the committee, apologizing for things he hadn't even done.

    Similargrovel, kowtow

    Note

    Here the body on the ground becomes a posture of the spirit, the creeping of the literal sense turned into self-abasement. Its favorite frame is come crawling to someone, often in a warning: don't come crawling to me. Grovel is its closest partner. Shakespeare and Fletcher's Henry VIII, written in 1613, already has a rival who has crawled into the king's good graces.

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