intr.v., crawled, crawl·ing, crawls.
- To move slowly on the hands and knees or by dragging the body along the ground; creep.
- To advance slowly, feebly, laboriously, or with frequent stops: We crawled along until we reached the open road.
- To proceed or act servilely.
- To be or feel as if swarming or covered with moving things: The accident scene was crawling with police officers. My flesh crawled in horror. See synonyms at teem1.
- To swim the crawl.
- The action of moving slowly on the hands or knees or dragging the body along the ground.
- An extremely slow pace: Traffic was moving at a crawl.
- Sports. A rapid swimming stroke consisting of alternating overarm strokes and a flutter kick.
- A set of letters or figures that move across, up, or down a movie or television screen, usually giving information, such as film credits or weather alerts.
[Middle English craulen, from Old Norse krafla.]
crawlingly crawl'ing·ly adv.crawl2 (krôl)
n.
A pen in shallow water, as for confining fish or turtles.
[Afrikaans kraal, enclosure for animals. See kraal.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
