grovel

English

Etymology

From Old Norse á grufu (“on one's belly”) ( > Old Norse grúfa (“to grovel”)).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒvəl

Verb

grovel (third-person singular simple present grovels, present participle grovelling or groveling, simple past and past participle grovelled or groveled)

1. To be prone on the ground.
2. To crawl
3. To abase oneself before another person.
4. To be nice to someone or apologize in the hope of securing something.
5. To take pleasure in mundane activities.

Usage notes

• The spellings grovelling and grovelled are more common in the UK. Groveling and groveled are more common in the US.

Translations

to be prone on the ground

• Finnish: olla (fi) rähmällään (fi)

• Italian: giacere bocconi (it), giacere prono (it)

to crawl

• Catalan: arrossegar (ca)
• Czech: plazit se
• Finnish: ryömiä (fi), madella (fi)

• German: kriechen (de)
• Italian: strisciare (it)

to abase oneself

• Finnish: nöyristellä (fi), madella (fi), olla (fi) rähmällään (fi)

• French: s'abaisser (fr)
• German: kriechen (de), katzbuckeln (de), auf dem Bauch rutschen (de)
• Italian: abbassarsi (it), umiliarsi (it)

to be nice in the hope of securing something

• Dutch: kruipen (nl)
• Finnish: mielistellä (fi)

• German: kriechen (de), schleimen (de)
• Hebrew: התרפס (he) (hitrapés)
• Italian: ingraziarsi (it)

to take pleasure in mundane thing

• Finnish: rypeä (fi)

• Italian: grufolarsi (it)

Anagrams

• Glover, glover