Library / English Dictionary

CRAWL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body

Example:

the traffic moved at a creep

Synonyms:

crawl; crawling; creep; creeping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("crawl" is a kind of...):

locomotion; travel (self-propelled movement)

Derivation:

crawl (move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A very slow movement

Example:

the traffic advanced at a crawl

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("crawl" is a kind of...):

motion; move; movement (the act of changing location from one place to another)

Derivation:

crawl (move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kick

Synonyms:

Australian crawl; crawl; front crawl

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("crawl" is a kind of...):

swimming stroke (a method of moving the arms and legs to push against the water and propel the swimmer forward)

Meronyms (parts of "crawl"):

flutter kick (a swimming kick; the legs are moved rapidly up and down without bending the knees)

Derivation:

crawl (swim by doing the crawl)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground

Example:

The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed

Synonyms:

crawl; creep

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "crawl" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crawl"):

formicate (crawl about like ants)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The streets crawl with crowds

Derivation:

crawl (a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body)

crawl (a very slow movement)

crawler (terrestrial worm that burrows into and helps aerate soil; often surfaces when the ground is cool or wet; used as bait by anglers)

crawler (a person who crawls or creeps along the ground)

crawling (a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Swim by doing the crawl

Example:

European children learn the breast stroke; they often don't know how to crawl

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "crawl" is one way to...):

swim (travel through water)

Domain category:

aquatics; water sport (sports that involve bodies of water)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

crawl (a swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kick)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Show submission or fear

Synonyms:

cower; crawl; creep; cringe; fawn; grovel

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "crawl" is one way to...):

bend; flex (form a curve)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

crawler (a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be full of

Example:

The old cheese was crawling with maggots

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "crawl" is one way to...):

pullulate; swarm; teem (be teeming, be abuzz)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Feel as if crawling with insects

Example:

My skin crawled--I was terrified

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "crawl" is one way to...):

feel (be felt or perceived in a certain way)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

I saw a dark, creeping figure which crawled round the corner and squatted in front of the door.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His flesh was crawling as it had crawled that night when she clung to him, and his heart was warm with pity.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It's unclear how the first vertebrates thrived after crawling out of the sea 400 million years ago, but the lungs hold an important clue.

(Following the lizard lung labyrinth, National Science Foundation)

Then the plate continues to crawl ever deeper into the Earth's mantle, ferrying the water with it.

(Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth’s interior, National Science Foundation)

Then she went on sitting, and hatched them: and in a few days they crawled out, and had only a little red streak across their necks, where the tailor had sewn them together.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

But the most hateful sight of all, was the lice crawling on their clothes.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Always, in the beginning, before his conscious life dawned, he had crawled toward the mouth of the cave.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

After a particularly fierce blow, he crawled to his feet, too dazed to rush.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

More restless than he was, he crawls out of his house, and looks at me, and wanders to the door, and whines to go upstairs.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)