CRAWL


Meaning of CRAWL in English

I. crawl 1 /krɔːl $ krɒːl/ BrE AmE verb [intransitive]

[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: krafla ]

1 . to move along on your hands and knees with your body close to the ground

crawl along/across etc

The baby crawled across the floor.

2 . if an insect crawls, it moves using its legs

crawl over/up etc

There’s a bug crawling up your leg.

3 . crawl into/out of bed to get into or out of bed slowly because you are very tired:

We crawled into bed at 2 am.

4 . if a vehicle crawls, it moves forward very slowly

crawl by/along etc

The traffic was crawling along.

5 . British English informal to be too pleasant or helpful to someone in authority, especially because you want them to help you – used in order to show disapproval

crawl to

She’s always crawling to the boss.

6 . be crawling with something to be completely covered with insects, people etc:

The floor was crawling with ants.

The whole place was crawling with cops.

7 . crawl the Net/web if a computer program crawls the Net, it quickly searches the Internet to find the particular information you need ⇨ spider :

robots that crawl the net searching out e-mail addresses for junk mailing

II. crawl 2 BrE AmE noun [singular]

1 . a very slow speed:

The traffic had slowed to a crawl.

2 . the crawl a way of swimming in which you lie on your stomach and move one arm, and then the other, over your head ⇨ backstroke , breaststroke , butterfly

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.