creep
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: krēp
ipa: /kɹiːp/
ipa: [kʰɹiːp]
rhymes: -iːp
Forms: form: creeps
Etymology: From Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *kreupan, from Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to twist, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with West Frisian krippe, krûpe, West Frisian crjippa (“to creep”), Low German krepen and krupen, Dutch kruipen (“to creep, crawl”), Middle High German kriefen (“to creep”), Danish krybe (“to creep”), Norwegian krype (“to creep”), Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”), Icelandic krjúpa (“to stoop”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *kreupaną
Proto-West Germanic *kreupan
Old English crēopan
Middle English crepen
English creep
Senses: glosses: The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).
glosses: A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
glosses: A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.
examples: text: Christmas creep
text: feature creep
text: instruction creep
text: mission creep
glosses: The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
topics: media
publishing
glosses: In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.
qualifier: materials science
glosses: An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.
examples: text: "You mentioned some others," I said.
"More creeps," she told me. '"That guy was plain looking for trouble. You know, he starts hanging out with some of the shooters Whitey Tass keeps around, angling for an introduction to the big man himself, and he's damn lucky he got picked up by the fuzz before Whitey got sore. He runs too big an operation in the city to be bugged by a pig like Yard. One day Lou Steubal tried to get an inside track with Whitey, levering him on account of what Whitey did to his sister, and they found Lou in the drink. It looked like Lou got gassed up and fell in, but don't try to tell me that. Whitey had him tapped out."
ref: 1968, Mickey Spillane, Delta Factor:
text: But I'm a creep / I'm a weirdo / What the hell am I doing here? / I don't belong here
ref: 1992, “Creep”, in Pablo Honey, performed by Radiohead:
text: […]the catalyst was getting locked in the bathroom of her office with her landlord. "Two hours with that creep," she said. "You can't believe it[…]he got a ladder and came through the bathroom window and almost broke his balls on that pointed tampax box he made us buy. He brought hammers and screws and drills, but we were trapped. It got dark[…]He kept chipping away at the lock, and between the chipping he talked to me about his back and a couple of knee-operations. Finally someone tapped on the door from the outside and it opened, just like that.[…]"
ref: 1992, Thaisa Frank, A Brief History of Camouflage, page 113:
text: "Why're you working your butt off for that creep? He takes your money, borrows your car, and treats you like shit. Can't you tell he's on drugs?"
ref: 1994, Bapsi Sidhwa, An American Brat, page 168:
text: "Outrageous!" said Tylan. "You know, without Fingers and baby Trev, we could have won."
"Yeah, Trevor, what a creep — running off home at half-time like that," said Frankie.
ref: 1995, Bob Cattell, Glory in the Cup, page 36:
synonyms: creepazoid#Noun
creeper
creepoid#Noun
coordinate_terms: weirdo
glosses: Someone creepy (annoyingly unpleasant), especially one who is strange or eccentric.
examples: text: It was whispered that the priest was a pervert. Was he? The girls said he was a creep. I didn't quite know what it meant to be a creep, but it was obviously not a good thing. It was said that he sometimes fondled the girls, their breasts, and said lousy things to them, that they were beautiful or something like that.[…]Disgusting guys. I thought the guy at Bústaðir was a creep. An old man who liked to dance.
ref: 2016, Jón Gnarr, Hrefna Lind Heimisdóttir, translated by Lytton Smith, The Pirate, page 201:
text: Saiera shuddered through an exaggerated shiver. "He's a creep. He was a creep in high school, and he's been a creep ever since. Look..." She flipped to the index, found what she was looking for, and fanned the pages until she reached the one she wanted. "Here he is.
A young Andy Gluck, chubby as a penguin, stared out of the page from behind round wire-frame glasses. A camera hung from a strap around his neck. […]
"He doesn't look creepy," I said. "Kind of nerdy, in a harmless way.
"Looks can be deceiving. See that camera? He was always going around with that camera, snapping pictures. Some girls caught him trying to get 'up skirt' shots while they sat at their desks.[…]"
ref: 2022, Scott Bell, Pest Cemetery, page 235:
synonyms: pervert
perv
glosses: A person who engages in sexually inappropriate behaviour or sexual harassment.
topics: agriculture
business
lifestyle
glosses: A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.
Derived terms: sense: creeping movement
word: creepmeter
sense: creeping movement
word: downhill creep
sense: creeping movement
word: soil creep
sense: creeping movement
word: upcreep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: bracket creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: Christmas creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: Coble creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: diffusion creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: dislocation creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: Eurocreep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: feature creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: focus creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
english: function creep
translation: function creep
word: function creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
english: instruction creep
translation: instruction creep
word: instruction creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: lifestyle creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
english: mission creep
translation: mission creep
word: mission creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: Nabarro-Herring creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: Pollyanna creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: power creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
english: requirement creep
translation: requirement creep
word: requirement creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: scope creep
sense: gradual expansion or proliferation, negatively
word: season creep
sense: frightening and/or disconcerting person
word: creepdar
sense: frightening and/or disconcerting person
word: creep-shame
sense: frightening and/or disconcerting person
word: creep shot
sense: frightening and/or disconcerting person
word: Democreep
sense: frightening and/or disconcerting person
word: Eurocreep
sense: other terms
word: creepfest
sense: other terms
word: creepify
sense: other terms
word: creepish
sense: other terms
word: creep joint
sense: other terms
word: creepo
sense: other terms
word: creepshot
sense: other terms
word: creepsome
sense: other terms
word: creeptacular
sense: other terms
word: creeptastic
sense: other terms
word: creepware