Crawl (kr&add;l), v. i.
[imp. & p. p. Crawled (kr&add;ld);
p. pr. & vb. n. Crawling.] [Dan.
kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the
hands; akin to Sw. kräla to crawl; cf. LG.
krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
1. To move slowly by drawing the body along
the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and knees; to
creep.
A worm finds what it searches after only by
feeling, as it crawls from one thing to another.
Grew.
2. Hence, to move or advance in a feeble,
slow, or timorous manner.
He was hardly able to crawl about the
room.
Arbuthnot.
The meanest thing that crawl'd beneath my
eyes.
Byron.
3. To advance slowly and furtively; to
insinuate one's self; to advance or gain influence by servile or
obsequious conduct.
Secretly crawling up the battered
walls.
Knolles.
Hath crawled into the favor of the
king.
Shak.
Absurd opinions crawl about the world.
South.
4. To have a sensation as of insect
creeping over the body; as, the flesh crawls. See
Creep, v. i., 7.
Crawl (kr&add;l), n. The act
or motion of crawling; slow motion, as of a creeping
animal.
Crawl, n. [Cf. Kraal.]
A pen or inclosure of stakes and hurdles on the seacoast,
for holding fish.
