Word: crawl Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English crawlen, crewlen, creulen, crallen, *cravelen, from Old Norse krafla (compare Danish kravle (“to crawl, creep”), Swedish kravla, kräla (“to creep, crawl”)), from Proto-Germanic *krablōną (compare Saterland Frisian krabbelje, Dutch krabbelen, German Low German krabbeln, German krabbeln), frequentative of *krabbōną (“to scratch, scrape”). Compare also Saterland Frisian krauelje (“to crawl, scuttle”), West Frisian kreauwelje (“to crawl”), Dutch krevelen, krieuwelen (“to crawl”), German Low German kribbeln, German kribbeln (“to creep, crawl, tingle”). See also crab, crabble. Pronunciation: /kɹɔːl/, /kɹoːl/, /kɹaːl/, /kɾɔl/, /kɾɔːl/ 1. To move by dragging one's body along or close to a surface, like a worm or insect, or on one's hands and knees, like a human baby. Labels: intransitive Example: Clutching my wounded side, I crawled back to the trench. Example: A VVorm finds vvhat it ſearches after, only by Feeling, as it cravvls from one thing to another. VVhereas a Man, having Eyes, ſees it in a Moment, all before him. 2. To move or progress slowly or laboriously, or with great difficulty (for example due to feebleness) or frequent stops. Labels: intransitive Example: The rush-hour traffic crawled around the bypass. Example: […] and catching hold with his hand upon the rough cragges, […] he crawled up to the toppe thereof 3. To advance by guile and servility; to act in a servile manner, trying to please someone in order to gain favor. Labels: intransitive Example: Don’t come crawling to me with your useless apologies! Example: Our hard-ruled king. Again, there is sprung up. An heretic, an arch one, Cranmer; one. Hath crawled into the favour of the king 4. To spread by extending tendrils, stems, or branches; to creep or trail (as a vine). Example: The old house was covered in vines crawling over every available surface. Example: A little […] Nerve […] which crawls up and down the Coat of the Liver. 5. To swim using the crawl stroke. Labels: intransitive, transitive Example: I think I'll crawl instead of breaststroke. Example: I think I'll crawl the next hundred metres. 6. Followed by with: see crawl with. Labels: intransitive 7. To feel a swarming sensation; to have a sensation like that produced by insects crawling over one's body. Labels: intransitive Example: The horrible sight made my skin crawl. Example: [Their] dirtiness positively made me crawl. 8. To spread unevenly; to fail to be or remain evenly spread. Labels: intransitive 9. To move over (an area) on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along. Labels: transitive Example: The baby crawled the entire second floor. Example: […] the nightmare horrors that crawled the reeking walls and floor. 10. To move over (an area) slowly, with frequent stops. Labels: transitive Example: They crawled the downtown bars. Example: "I used to crawl the Dungeon like you do, Bell, saving up money... But one day, I screwed verything up. Got thoroughly wrecked by a monster, and it ate my right arm." 11. To visit (files or web sites) in order to index them for searching. Labels: Internet, transitive Example: Yahoo Search has updated its Slurp Crawler to crawl websites faster and more efficiently.