crawl

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
crawl
    n 1: a very slow movement; "the traffic advanced at a crawl"
    2: a swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead
       accompanied by a flutter kick [syn: {crawl}, {front crawl},
       {Australian crawl}]
    3: a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the
       body; "a crawl was all that the injured man could manage";
       "the traffic moved at a creep" [syn: {crawl}, {crawling},
       {creep}, {creeping}]
    v 1: move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body
         near the ground; "The crocodile was crawling along the
         riverbed" [syn: {crawl}, {creep}]
    2: feel as if crawling with insects; "My skin crawled--I was
       terrified"
    3: be full of; "The old cheese was crawling with maggots"
    4: show submission or fear [syn: {fawn}, {crawl}, {creep},
       {cringe}, {cower}, {grovel}]
    5: swim by doing the crawl; "European children learn the breast
       stroke; they often don't know how to crawl"
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Crawl \Crawl\ (kr?l), n.
   The act or motion of crawling; slow motion, as of a creeping
   animal.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Crawl \Crawl\, n. [Cf. {Kraal}.]
   A pen or inclosure of stakes and hurdles on the seacoast, for
   holding fish.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Crawl \Crawl\ (kr[add]l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Crawled}
   (kr[add]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Crawling}.] [Dan. kravle, or
   Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw.
   kr[aum]la to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to
   scratch.]
   1. To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a
      worm; to move slowly on hands and knees; to creep.
      [1913 Webster]

            A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling,
            as it crawls from one thing to another. --Grew.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence, to move or advance in a feeble, slow, or timorous
      manner.
      [1913 Webster]

            He was hardly able to crawl about the room.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.
      [1913 Webster]

            The meanest thing that crawl'd beneath my eyes.
                                                  --Byron.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To advance slowly and furtively; to insinuate one's self;
      to advance or gain influence by servile or obsequious
      conduct.
      [1913 Webster]

            Secretly crawling up the battered walls. --Knolles.
      [1913 Webster]

            Hath crawled into the favor of the king. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Absurd opinions crawl about the world. --South.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To have a sensation as of insect creeping over the body;
      as, the flesh crawls. See {Creep}, v. i., 7.
      [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
169 Moby Thesaurus words for "crawl":
      Australian crawl, abound, all fours, amble, andante, aquaplaning,
      aquatics, backstroke, balneation, bathe, bathing, bend the knee,
      blister, bootlick, bow, bow and scrape, breaststroke, butterfly,
      castigate, claudicate, claudication, couch, cower, crawling, creep,
      creeping, cringe, crouch, dead march, diving, dog paddle, dogtrot,
      drag, drag along, drag on, drag out, edge, excoriate, fawn,
      feel creepy, feel funny, fin, fishtail, flapper, flatter, flay,
      flipper, floating, flow, footpace, funeral march, go dead slow,
      go on, go on tiptoe, go slow, grovel, gumshoe, gumshoeing,
      have gooseflesh, have the creeps, hobble, hug the earth, idle,
      inch, inch along, jog, jog trot, jog-trot, kneel, kowtow, lay,
      laze, leisurely gait, lick the dust, lickspittle, lie, lie down,
      lie flat, lie limply, lie low, lie prone, lie prostrate, lie under,
      limp, linger, linger on, loll, lounge, lumbering pace,
      mincing steps, mosey, natation, nightwalk, nightwalking, pad,
      padding, plod, poke, poke along, prowl, prowling, pullulate,
      pussyfoot, pussyfooting, rack, recline, repose, roast, saunter,
      scathe, scorch, scrabble, scramble, shamble, shuffle,
      shuffle along, sidestroke, sidle, sidling, slam, slide, slink,
      slinking, slouch, slow march, slow motion, snake, snaking, sneak,
      sneaking, sprawl, squat, squirm, stagger along, steal, steal along,
      stealing, stoop, stroll, surfboarding, surfing, swarm, swim,
      swimming, tarry, teem, tippytoe, tiptoe, tiptoeing, toadeat, toady,
      toddle, toddle along, totter along, traipse, treading water,
      truckle, trudge, underlie, waddle, wading, walk, waterskiing,
      wear on, wiggle, worm, worm along, worming, wriggle

    

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