(~s, ~ing, crept)
1.
When people or animals ~ somewhere, they move quietly and slowly.
Back I go to the hotel and ~ up to my room...
The rabbit ~s away and hides in a hole.
VERB: V adv/prep, V adv/prep
2.
If something ~s somewhere, it moves very slowly.
Mist had crept in again from the sea.
VERB: V adv/prep
3.
If something ~s in or ~s back, it begins to occur or becomes part of something without people realizing or without them wanting it.
Insecurity might ~ in...
An increasing ratio of mistakes, perhaps induced by tiredness, crept into her game.
...a proposal that crept through unnoticed at the National Council in December...
VERB: V in , V into n, V adv/prep
4.
If a rate or number ~s up to a higher level, it gradually reaches that level.
The inflation rate has been ~ing up to 9.5 per cent...
The average number of students in each class is ~ing up from three to four.
VERB: V up to n, V up , also V adj-compar
5.
If you describe someone as a ~, you mean that you dislike them a great deal, especially because they are insincere and flatter people. (INFORMAL)
N-COUNT disapproval
6.
If someone or something gives you the ~s, they make you feel very nervous or frightened. (INFORMAL)
I always hated that statue. It gave me the ~s.
PHRASE: V inflects
7.
to make someone’s flesh ~: see flesh