crawl
crawl — verb
1. to move forward while your stomach or chest stays near the floor, using your arm
to move forward while your stomach or chest stays near the floor, using your arms and legs to push or pull yourself ahead.
Rafael crawled under the dining table to find his son's lost toy.
crawl + under [object]
The baby crawled across the living room rug toward her grandmother.
Min crawled through the narrow tunnel to reach the cave on the far side.
crawl + through [narrow space]
A large spider crawled along the edge of the bathroom sink.
Ayana crawled on her hands and knees through the dusty attic space.
crawl on hands and knees
- crawl across
- crawl under
- crawl through
- crawl along
- crawl on hands and knees
- walk
upright movement on feet, much faster than crawling
Grammar Patterns
crawl + adverb/preposition (across, under, through, along)
Usage Note
Frequently followed by prepositions showing direction: under, across, through, along, into. The subject may be a person, an animal, or an insect moving close to a surface.
Common Mistakes
2. to move or make progress at an extremely slow rate, often because of difficulty
to move or make progress at an extremely slow rate, often because of difficulty or delay.
Traffic crawled along the highway for nearly two hours after the accident.
crawl along [road] describing traffic
The renovation project crawled toward completion after the contractor quit.
The queue at the ticket counter crawled forward so slowly that Mia nearly gave up.
crawl forward (slow queue movement)
The old dog crawled up the front steps one step at a time.
- crawl along
- crawl forward
- crawl toward
- crawl at a snail's pace
Grammar Patterns
crawl + adverb (along, forward, toward)
Usage Note
Subject is typically traffic, a queue, a vehicle, or an abstract process (a project, recovery). Not used when the subject is a person physically on hands and knees — use sense 1 for that.
Common Mistakes
3. to behave with exaggerated flattery toward a powerful person, as though your onl
to behave with exaggerated flattery toward a powerful person, as though your only reason for being nice is to get something for yourself.
The new salesperson crawled to every senior manager, hoping for a quick promotion.
crawl to [person in authority] for advantage
Shirin refused to crawl to the director just to get a better office.
Some politicians crawl to wealthy donors during every election season.
Lucas would never crawl to the professor, even if it meant a better grade.
- crawl to someone
- crawl to the boss
- crawl for a favor
- grovel
stronger intensity, suggests humiliating oneself even more deeply
- toady
less common as a verb, more often used as a noun describing the person
- brown-nose
very informal, more common in American English
- stand up to
to confront someone in authority rather than flatter them
Grammar Patterns
crawl + to + person/group
Usage Note
Strongly negative connotation. The person being crawled to is always someone with greater power or influence. Rarely used without a prepositional phrase starting with 'to'.
Common Mistakes
4. to be full of or completely covered by large numbers of small living things or s
to be full of or completely covered by large numbers of small living things or small objects, especially in a way that is surprising or unpleasant.
The old tool shed was crawling with spiders and large centipedes.
be crawling with [creatures]
Aarav's phone screen was crawling with unread notification icons.
The abandoned warehouse was crawling with stray cats and rats.
The old block of cheese was crawling with tiny white maggots.
- crawling with insects
- crawling with people
- crawling with ants
- crawling with bugs
- teem with
more formal, often used for crowds of people or marine life
- swarm with
suggests busy movement, often for insects or crowds
Grammar Patterns
be crawling with + noun (insects, animals, people, objects)
Usage Note
Almost always used in the continuous form ('was crawling with'). The subject is a place, surface, or container; the noun after 'with' is typically insects, animals, people, or small items in large numbers.
Common Mistakes
5. to cause a strong feeling of fear, disgust, or intense discomfort, as if insects
to cause a strong feeling of fear, disgust, or intense discomfort, as if insects were moving over your body.
The horror film made Sivan's skin crawl from the very first scene.
make [possessive] skin crawl
Just hearing the manager's voice made Ishaan's skin crawl after their argument.
The sight of the dead cockroach on the plate made Élise's skin crawl.
The memory of that embarrassing moment still made Indra's skin crawl years later.
- make someone's skin crawl
- feel one's skin crawl
Grammar Patterns
make + possessive + skin + crawl
Usage Note
Almost always appears in the fixed expression 'make someone's skin crawl'. The cause may be something frightening, disgusting, creepy, or morally repulsive.
Common Mistakes
6. to automatically visit and read the content of websites or web pages so that the
to automatically visit and read the content of websites or web pages so that the information can be recorded and searched later.
Google's search engine crawls billions of web pages every single day.
crawl + [web pages / websites] — computing term
The bot crawled the entire company site and indexed every article.
Search engines crawl through new websites regularly to update their records.
Our blog gets crawled by search engines several times every week.
passive: gets crawled by [search engine]
- crawl a website
- crawl web pages
- search engine crawls
- web crawling bot
- index
focuses on the result (adding to a database) rather than the act of visiting
Grammar Patterns
crawl + website/page; crawl through + website
Usage Note
Technical term from information technology. The subject is typically a search engine or an automated software script known as a 'web crawler' or 'spider'. Often used in passive form: 'The site was crawled overnight.'
be crawling with
phrasal verbTo be full of or covered with something, especially insects or people.
The kitchen floor was crawling with ants.
During the festival, the park was crawling with tourists.
to make someone feel very frightened, disgusted, or extremely uncomfortable.
The way the stranger stared at the children made their skin crawl.
The dark basement with those strange scratching noises made my skin crawl.
to appear suddenly in large numbers, especially when there is an opportunity to gain something.
After the scholarship was announced, eager students came out of the woodwork to apply.
Whenever the company offers free snacks, people crawl out of the woodwork to grab some.
make your skin crawl
idiomTo cause someone to feel very frightened or disgusted.
The creepy old house made my skin crawl.
Does that spider make your skin crawl too?
crawl — noun
1. a rapid swimming method performed facing downward, with each arm circling forwar
a rapid swimming method performed facing downward, with each arm circling forward above the water in turn and the legs kicking straight up and down.
Lucas won the hundred-meter race using the front crawl.
the front crawl — full name of the stroke
Beatrix is learning the crawl at her Saturday swimming class.
The crawl is faster than breaststroke for most competitive swimmers.
comparison with breaststroke
Indra prefers the front crawl over the butterfly stroke for long distances.
- front crawl
- swim the crawl
- do the crawl
- front crawl
the full technical name for this swimming stroke
Grammar Patterns
the crawl
front crawl
Usage Note
Also called 'front crawl' or 'Australian crawl'. Usually takes the definite article: 'the crawl'. Distinguished from other strokes like breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly.
Common Mistakes
2. an extremely slow rate of movement or progress, much slower than normal.
an extremely slow rate of movement or progress, much slower than normal.
Rush-hour traffic on the freeway slowed to a frustrating crawl.
slow to a crawl — common collocation
The bureaucratic paperwork reduced the office's output to a crawl.
Construction near the school kept the buses moving at a crawl all morning.
at a crawl — speed description
The funeral procession moved at a crawl through the narrow village lanes.
- at a crawl
- slow to a crawl
- reduce to a crawl
- move at a crawl
- snail's pace
idiomatic expression, also uses 'at a': 'at a snail's pace'
- breakneck speed
dangerously fast pace
Grammar Patterns
at a crawl
slow to a crawl
reduce to a crawl
Usage Note
Typically follows prepositions 'at' or 'to': 'at a crawl', 'slow/reduce to a crawl'. Often paired with verbs of slowing: 'slow to', 'reduce to', 'drop to'.
Common Mistakes
Word family
- crawlernounB2
- crawlingadjectiveB2
- web crawlernounC1
Synonym discussion
Sense: verb/1
All three verbs describe movement close to the ground, but they differ in posture, purpose, and speed. 'Crawl' specifically means moving on hands and knees (for people) or using legs (for animals and insects), often with effort or through limited space. 'Creep' emphasizes moving slowly, quietly, and carefully to avoid being detected — the person may be standing or crouched rather than on all fours. 'Slither' describes a smooth, side-to-side gliding motion like that of a snake, without using legs at all. For example: 'The baby crawled across the floor toward her toys' describes ordinary on-hands-and-knees movement; 'The security guard crept through the dark corridor' emphasizes stealth; 'The snake slithered into the tall grass' describes limbless, sinuous motion.
Common collocations
Etymology
The word 'crawl' entered English around the 13th century, coming from the Old Norse word 'krafla', which meant 'to claw' or 'to dig with the nails'. It is related to words like 'crab' and 'crayfish', animals known for their clawing or creeping movement. Over time, the meaning shifted from the action of clawing at a surface to the specific way of moving on hands and knees. The swimming-stroke sense appeared in the late 19th century, and the computing sense (web crawling) emerged in the 1990s.