crawl

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Middle English crawlen, from Old Norse krafla (cf. Danish kravle ‘to crawl, creep’, Swedish kravla), from Proto-Germanic *krablōnan (cf. Dutch krabbelen, Low German krabbeln, Middle High German krappeln), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *krabbōnan ‘to scratch, scrape’. More at crab.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: krôl, IPA: /krɔːl/, SAMPA: /krO:l/

Rhymes: -ɔːl

• (US) enPR: krôl, IPA: /krɔl/, SAMPA: /krOl/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: kräl, IPA: /krɑl/, SAMPA: /krAl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

crawl (third-person singular simple present crawls, present participle crawling, simple past and past participle crawled)

1. (intransitive) To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground.

   Clutching my wounded side, I crawled back to the trench.

2. (intransitive) To move forward slowly, with frequent stops.

   The rush-hour traffic crawled around the bypass.

3. (intransitive) To act in a servile manner.

   Don't come crawling to me with your useless apologies!

4. (intransitive, with "with") See crawl with.
5. (intransitive) To feel a swarming sensation.

   The horrible sight made my skin crawl.

6. (intransitive) To swim using the crawl stroke.

   I think I'll crawl the next hundred metres.

7. (transitive) To move over an area on hands and knees.

   The baby crawled the entire second floor.

8. (intransitive) To visit while becoming inebriated.

   They crawled the downtown bars.

9. (transitive) To visit files or web sites in order to index them for searching.

   Yahoo Search has updated its Slurp Crawler to crawl web sites faster and more efficient.

Derived terms

• crawler

Translations

to move along the ground on hands and knees

Arabic: زحف (ar) (zaHafa) Bulgarian: пълзя (bg) Cebuano: kamang Chinese: 爬 (cmn) (pá), 匍 (cmn) (pú), 爬行 (cmn) (páxíng), 匍匐 (cmn) (púfú), 蛇行 (cmn) (shéxíng) Crimean Tatar: baqalamaq Czech: plazit (cs) se, lézt (cs) Dutch: kruipen (nl) Esperanto: rampi (eo) Ewe: ta Finnish: kontata (fi), ryömiä (fi) French: ramper (fr) Georgian: ბობღვა (ka) (bobḡva), ცოცვა (ka) (c'oc'va), ხოხვა (ka) (xoxva)

German: kriechen (de), krabbeln (de) Greek: έρπω (el) Hebrew: זחל (he) (zakhál) Hungarian: kúszik (hu), mászik (hu) Icelandic: skríða (is) Japanese: 這う (ja) (hau) Latgalian: ruopuot Latvian: rāpot (lv) Russian: ползать (ru) (pólzat'), ползти (ru) (polztí) Scottish Gaelic: snàig (gd), èalaidh  (gd) Spanish: rampar (es) (stealthily), gatear (es) (like a baby or a toddler) Telugu: పాకు (paaku), దేకు (daeku) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Thai: คลาน (th) Turkish: emeklemek (tr)

to move slowly

Bulgarian: влача се (bg) Czech: plazit (cs) se, lézt (cs) Finnish: madella (fi), ryömiä (fi) French: avancer au pas German: kriechen (de) Hebrew: הזדחל (he) (hizdakhél)

Hungarian: vánszorog (hu) Russian: ползти (ru) (polztí) Scottish Gaelic: èalaidh  (gd) Spanish: avanzar a paso de tortuga Telugu: దేకు (daeku)

to act in a servile manner

Bulgarian: угоднича (bg) Czech: plazit (cs) se Finnish: kontata (fi), ryömiä (fi) French: s'aplatir (devant)

Russian: лебезить (ru) (lebezít'), заискивать (ru) (zaískivat'), угодничать (ru) (ugódničat') Spanish: humillarse (ante)

to teem or swarm

Bulgarian: гъмжа (bg) Finnish: vilistä (fi) French: grouiller (de) German: wimmeln (de)

Hungarian: hemzseg (hu) Russian: кишеть (ru) Spanish: estar cuajado (de)

to feel swarming sensation

Finnish: saada (fi) kylmiä (fi) väreitä (fi) French: avoir la chair de poule

German: krabbeln (de) Russian: мурашки по телу (muráški po télu)

to swim using crawl stroke

Bulgarian: плувам кроул (bg) Finnish: kroolata (fi) French: faire le crawl German: kraulen (de)

Greek: κάνω κρόουλ (el) Italian: nuotare a crawl Russian: плыть кролем (plyt' królem)

to move over an area on hands and knees

Bulgarian: пълзя (bg) Finnish: kontata (fi) läpi (fi)

Greek: μπουσουλάω (el) Scottish Gaelic: èalaidh  (gd)

to visit while becoming inebriated

Finnish: kontata (fi)

to index files or web sites in order to make them available for search

Finnish: indeksoida (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: arrastrarse (es) (doesn't this mean to drag?)

Noun

crawl (plural crawls)

1. The act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops
2. A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick
3. (television) A piece of horizontally scrolling text overlaid on the main image.

Derived terms

front crawl pub crawl

urban crawl

Translations

slow movement on hands and knees, or with frequent stops

Bulgarian: пълзене (bg) n. Finnish: konttaus (fi), ryömintä (fi)( on hands and knees); matelu (fi) (with frequent stops) German: Schneckentempo (de) n.

Hebrew: זחילה (zkhila) f. - movement on knees and hands; הזדחלות (hizdakhlut) f. - slow movement with frequent stops Russian: ползание (ru) (pólzanije) n.

swimming stroke

Bulgarian: кроул (bg) m. Chinese: 自由泳 (cmn) (zìyóuyǒng) Finnish: krooli (fi) German: Kraul (de) n. Greek: κρόουλ (el) n.

Icelandic: skriðsund (is) n. Italian: crawl (it) Japanese: クロール (ja) (kūroru) Russian: кроль (ru) (krol') m. Spanish: crol (es) m., estilo crol (es) m. Swedish: crawl (sv)

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French

Noun

crawl m. (plural crawls)

1. crawl (swimming stroke)

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Italian

Noun

crawl m. (plural crawl)

1. crawl (swimming stroke)

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Swedish

Noun

Declension of crawl

	uncountable		uncountable
Common	indefinite	definite
nominative	crawl	crawlen
genitive	crawls	crawlens

crawl c.

1. crawl; swimming stroke

Related terms

• crawla