crawl

Universal Words verb, noun verb [V] [usually +adv./prep.] 1 to move forward on your hands and knees, with your body close to the ground: Our baby is just starting to crawl. * A man was crawling away from the burning wreckage. * She crawled under the fence. 2 when an insect crawls, it moves forward on its legs: There's a spider crawling up your leg. 3 to move forward very slowly: The traffic was crawling along. * The weeks crawled by. 4 ~ (to sb) (informal, disapproving) to be too friendly or helpful to sb in authority, in a way that is not sincere, especially in order to get an advantage from them: She's always crawling to the boss. IDIOMS see SKINn., WOODWORK PHRASALVERBS be crawling with sth (informal) to be full of or completely covered with people, insects or animals, in a way that is unpleasant: The place was crawling with journalists. * Her hair was crawling with lice. noun 1 [sing.] a very slow speed: The traffic slowed to a crawl. seealsoPUBCRAWL 2 (often the crawl) [sing.,U] a fast swimming stroke that you do lying on your front moving one arm over your head, and then the other, while kicking with your feet: a swimmer doing the crawl * He struck out across the pool in a powerful crawl.