crawl

Pronunciation

• enPR: krôl
• IPA ^(key): /krɔ:l/
• SAMPA: /krO:l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form crawl

Third-person singular crawls

Past tense crawled

Past participle crawled

Present participle crawling

1. The way an animal or baby might walk. If something crawls, it walks on four or more legs. For a person, this means using the hands and arms like legs.

   I crawled through the tunnel.

2. If something crawls, it moves slowly.

   Yesterday seemed so long, like time was crawling.

3. If your skin crawls. you feel bugs are crawling over your body. This is often a way of saying you are afraid or disturbed.

   Just hearing about that makes my skin crawl.

4. If a place is crawling with something, that thing covers that place.

   The club was crawling with people I'd like to meet.

Synonyms

• creep
• (cover a place) swarm

Related words

• crawler
• crawl way
• creepy-crawly

Noun

Singular crawl

Plural crawls

1. A crawl is when something crawls on more than two legs.

   If was a long crawl though the bushes.

2. If something is moving at a crawl, it is going slowly.

   We were making progress, but only at a crawl.

3. The crawl is a way of swimming.

   The first stroke we learned in swimming class was the crawl.