# crawl

Pronunciation: say "KRAWL" US /kɹɔl/, UK /kɹɔːl/, AUS /kɹoːl/

## Verb

1. To move slowly along with the body close to the ground, either on hands and knees or by dragging oneself.
   - Simple: To move slowly on your hands and knees, or with your body close to the ground.
   - _Soldiers crawl under the wire during training exercises._
   - _She crawled through the narrow tunnel toward the light._
3. To move forward slowly, making frequent stops or pauses along the way.
   - Simple: To move forward very slowly, stopping often along the way.
   - _Trucks crawl up the mountain pass whenever fog rolls in._
   - _The checkout line crawled forward all morning._
5. To swim by means of the crawl stroke, or to cover a distance this way.
   - Simple: To swim using the crawl stroke, moving one arm over your head at a time.
   - _He crawled the final hundred meters at a punishing pace._
   - _Triathletes usually crawl in open water because the stroke conserves energy while keeping speed._
8. To travel across or through an area on one's hands and knees.
   - Simple: To move across a place on your 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. To move over an area slowly, with frequent stops along the way.
   - Simple: To travel across a place very slowly, stopping many times.
   - _Patrol cars crawl the neighborhood on weekend nights._
   - _The taxi crawled the avenue, halting at every light._
10. To act in a servile manner toward someone, abandoning one's dignity.
   - Simple: To behave in a weak, too-eager way to please someone powerful.
   - _Courtiers crawl before the king, hoping for favors._
   - _He crawled to the committee, apologizing for things he hadn't even done._
11. To visit web sites or files systematically in order to index their contents for searching.
   - Simple: To visit many web pages automatically and save what they say so people can search them.
   - _Search engines crawl the web continuously to keep their indexes current._
   - _The archiving bot crawled thousands of government pages before they were taken down._
13. To feel a prickling, swarming sensation on the skin, as if covered with tiny insects.
   - Simple: To feel like small things are moving on or under your skin.
   - _His flesh crawled at the sight of the abandoned operating room._
   - _Stories like that make my skin crawl._
14. Followed by with, to be full of or swarming with people or things, especially ones in motion.
   - Simple: When a place crawls with something, it is full of moving people, animals, or bugs.
   - _The crime scene was crawling with reporters within the hour._
   - _Abandoned warehouses often crawl with pigeons and stray cats._

## Noun

2. An extremely slow pace, used of movement or progress that has nearly come to a stop.
   - Simple: A very slow speed, especially when something usually moves much faster.
   - _Highway traffic slowed to a crawl during the storm._
   - _Negotiations proceeded at a crawl for months before the breakthrough._
4. A fast swimming stroke performed with alternating overarm pulls and a fluttering kick.
   - Simple: A fast way of swimming, using one arm over your head at a time and quick kicks.
   - _Most competitive swimmers rely on the crawl in freestyle races._
   - _Her coach refined her crawl by adjusting her breathing rhythm._
6. An outing in which a group visits a series of similar establishments in succession, such as bars or galleries.
   - Simple: A trip where you visit several places of the same kind, one after another.
   - _The art students organized a gallery crawl through the warehouse district._
   - _Saturday's crawl hit six breweries before midnight._
7. The act of moving slowly on the hands and knees, or with the body close to the ground.
   - Simple: The act of moving slowly on your hands and knees.
   - _Soldiers practiced a low crawl beneath the netting._
   - _Reaching the leak required a slow crawl through the attic's tight space._
12. A band of text that scrolls horizontally or vertically across the screen, overlaid on the main picture.
   - Simple: A line of text that moves across or up the screen during a show.
   - _During the debate, a crawl beneath the candidates displayed viewer questions._
   - _The film's opening crawl set up the story before the first scene._
15. An enclosure of stakes and hurdles set in shallow water for holding fish.
   - Simple: A pen made of wooden posts in shallow water, used for keeping fish.
   - _Fishermen transferred the live catch to a crawl beside the wharf._
   - _The storm surge broke the crawl and freed a week's worth of snapper._

## Origin

From Middle English crawlen, from Old Norse krafla (compare Danish kravle and Swedish kravla, 'to crawl, creep'), from Proto-Germanic *krablōną, a frequentative of *krabbōną meaning 'to scratch, scrape'. It is related to crab.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/crawl (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).