crawl

crawl1 [ krɔl ] verb intransitive *

1. ) crawl across/along/through etc. to move along the ground on your hands and knees or with your body close to the ground:

She crawled across the floor, her eyes stinging from the smoke.

They crawled through the tunnel.

a ) when a baby crawls, it moves forward on its hands and knees:

She is just learning to crawl.

2. ) if a vehicle crawls, it moves forward very slowly:

Cars and trucks crawled along the main road.

a ) if a person crawls somewhere, they move there very slowly or with difficulty:

I was so tired I just wanted to crawl into bed.

b ) if time crawls by, it seems to pass very slowly:

The weeks crawled by until we could meet again.

3. ) to try extremely hard to please someone, in order to gain an advantage, in a way that makes other people not respect you:

crawl to: The way you crawl to them makes me sick.

I'd rather die than go crawling back to him.

4. ) if an insect crawls, it moves forward using its legs:

Ants were crawling over the cheese.

be crawling with

1. ) to be full of people in a way that is unpleasant:

The town was crawling with police.

2. ) to be covered in insects:

The food was crawling with flies.

make someone's skin/flesh crawl

to give you a very unpleasant and slightly frightened feeling

crawl

crawl 2 [ krɔl ] noun singular

1. ) a very slow speed at which a vehicle moves forward:

The traffic had slowed to a crawl.

2. ) a fast style of swimming in which you lie on your front and move one arm over your head and then the other while kicking your legs