crawl
pronunciation
How to pronounce crawl in British English:
UK [krɔːl]
How to pronounce crawl in American English:
US [krɔːl]
-
- Noun:
- a very slow movement
- a swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kick
- a slow creeping mode of locomotion (on hands and knees or dragging the body)
-
- Verb:
- move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
- feel as if crawling with insects
- be crawling with
- show submission or fear
- swim by doing the crawl
Word Origin
- crawl (v.)
- c. 1200, creulen, from a Scandinavian source, perhaps Old Norse krafla "to claw (one's way)," Danish kravle, from the same root as crab (n.1). If there was an Old English *craflian, it has not been recorded. Related: Crawled; crawling.
- crawl (n.)
- 1818, from crawl (v.); in the swimming sense from 1903, the stroke developed by Frederick Cavill, well-known English swimmer who emigrated to Australia and modified the standard stroke of the day after observing South Seas islanders. So called because the swimmer's motion in the water resembles crawling.
Example
- 1. Then we dare to crawl into our own bed .
- 2. And for its day to be slowed to a crawl ?
- 3. Measures of output tend to crawl , not jump .
- 4. America 's gdp growth slowed to a crawl over the summer as builders cut back .
- 5. As they crawl out of the wreckage , the man sees the woman is blonde and strikingly beautiful .