CRAWLING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Crawling

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/krˈɔlɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Crawl v. i. (past & past part. crawled; pres. part. crawling)

To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and knees; to creep. "A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling, as it crawls from one thing to another."

Hence, To move or advance in a feeble, slow, or timorous manner. "He was hardly able to crawl about the room." "The meanest thing that crawl'd beneath my eyes."

To advance slowly and furtively; to insinuate one's self; to advance or gain influence by servile or obsequious conduct. "Secretly crawling up the battered walls." "Hath crawled into the favor of the king." "Absurd opinions crawl about the world."

To have a sensation as of insect creeping over the body; as, the flesh crawls. See Creep, v. i., 7.

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Etymology of 'Crawling'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Crawling" Quotes from Famous Books

... stone I was seated upon; but every one assured us they were harmless. Animal life is so infinitely abundant, and in forms so various, and so novel to European eyes, that it is absolutely necessary to divest oneself of all the petty terrors which the crawling, creeping, hopping, and buzzing tribes can inspire, before taking an American summer ramble. It is, I conceive, quite impossible for any description to convey an idea of the sounds which assail the ears from the time the short ...

— Domestic Manners of the Americans • Fanny Trollope

... saw very little, except of the lizards. These are sure to attract the attention of the newcomer from Northern Europe, by reason of their strange appearance, great numbers, and variety. The species which are seen crawling over the walls of buildings in the city are different from those found in the forest or in the interior of houses. They are unpleasant-looking animals, with colours assimilated to those of the dilapidated stone ...

— The Naturalist on the River Amazons • Henry Walter Bates

... Hole in the Wall. It is practically impregnable. It is entered by a narrow passage which one man could hold against an army. It can be approached at night by riding down the valley, dismounting, and crawling over the mountain until you are above the Hole in the Wall, when every man can be wiped out by ...

— Ted Strong's Motor Car • Edward C. Taylor

... swinging round, for the river was running the wrong way. At last I ran right up on that island, and then I got out, for my foot had gone to sleep. You see I hadn't dared to move, the canoe wabbled so. And then I went to look at some critters that were crawling around in the water,—they looked like tennis-racquets, only their tails weren't ...

— The Voyage of the Hoppergrass • Edmund Lester Pearson

... through it he heard the howls of rage that announced the discovery of the silent one lying by the little stream, and knew that a desire for vengeance would add swiftness to the feet of his pursuers. His own seemed weighted with lead, and he felt that he was crawling; but though he could not realize it he was still running splendidly, ...

— At War with Pontiac - The Totem of the Bear • Kirk Munroe and J. Finnemore

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