crawl
/krɔl/
verb
- To move forward on your hands and knees, close to the ground.
- The baby started to crawl across the living room floor.
- The soldier crawled slowly through the grass to avoid being seen.
- We had to crawl through the narrow tunnel to reach the cave.
- To move very slowly, especially because of traffic or congestion.
- The line for tickets crawled forward inch by inch.
- Our car crawled through the snowstorm at barely ten miles per hour.
- Traffic was crawling along the highway during rush hour.
- To be covered with or full of crawling things, or to feel as if insects are moving on your skin.
- After walking through the swamp, his legs were crawling with leeches.
- The old shed was crawling with spiders and cockroaches.
- The thought of eating that spoiled meat made my skin crawl.
- To try to win someone's approval by behaving in a very humble or flattering way.
- He's always crawling to the boss, hoping for a promotion.
- She crawled to the teacher for a better grade, but it didn't work.
- I refuse to crawl to anyone just to get a favor.
noun
- A slow, creeping movement or pace.
- We walked at a crawl through the crowded market.
- The project moved at a crawl because of all the delays.
- The traffic slowed to a crawl during the parade.
- A swimming stroke in which you lie on your stomach and move your arms alternately over your head while kicking your legs.
- He taught me how to breathe properly while doing the crawl.
- She won the race using the front crawl.
- The crawl is the fastest swimming stroke.