Crawl (Verb)
Meaning 1
Feel as if crawling with insects; "My skin crawled--I was terrified".
Classification
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations.
Examples
- As I stood in the damp basement, my skin crawled at the thought of all the creepy-crawly creatures lurking in the shadows.
- I walked through the abandoned house and its eerie atmosphere made my skin crawl with unease.
- When I saw the giant spider on my bed, my skin crawled with fear and I screamed at the top of my lungs.
- Watching the horror movie was so intense that my skin crawled as the creepy villain stalked his next victim.
- The way he leered at me made my skin crawl, and I immediately distanced myself from him for good.
Meaning 2
Move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground; "The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed".
Classification
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming.
Examples
- The baby started to crawl when she was seven months old.
- A tarantula began rapidly crawling across the coffee table after it fell from its tank.
- The search party was crawling on their hands and knees through thick bushes to locate the missing child.
- After a big meal, an adult sloth will crawl along a branch extremely slowly to avoid using too much energy.
- A scorpion is crawling upside down on the ceiling of this cave, something that some arachnids do relatively quickly.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
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Meaning 3
Show submission or fear.
Classification
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming.
Examples
- She had to crawl to her ex-partner and apologize for what she did, just to save her social standing.
- The employee was forced to crawl before the demanding manager just to keep his job.
- In the face of authority, the defiant teenager was made to crawl and obey the rules.
- Those who opposed the tyrannical ruler had to crawl on their knees to avoid persecution.
- The actress claimed the film director forced her to crawl and prove herself to secure a role.
Synonyms
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Meaning 4
Be full of; "The old cheese was crawling with maggots".
Classification
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations.
Examples
- The beach was crawling with tourists eager to soak up the sun.
- The infected wound was crawling with bacteria, requiring immediate medical attention.
- After dark, the trees seemed to be crawling with nocturnal creatures.
- The murky waters were crawling with leeches, making swimming unappealing.
- The old, abandoned mine was crawling with rats that had made it their home.
Hypernyms
Meaning 5
Swim by doing the crawl; "European children learn the breast stroke; they often don't know how to crawl".
Classification
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming.
Examples
- She managed to crawl the full length of the pool on her first swimming lesson.
- The instructor taught him how to crawl before moving on to more advanced strokes.
- As a child, she preferred to crawl through the water instead of trying the backstroke.
- Many athletes find that they can crawl faster than they can perform the butterfly stroke.
- In the United States, learning to crawl is a fundamental part of beginner swimming lessons.