A crawl is a slow and low movement on the ground, often with your hands and knees.
When we think of crawling, we might picture kids learning to walk by getting down on all fours and creeping along. But adults can crawl too - for example, you might have to crawl through a tight space in an emergency situation or when hiking in rough terrain. You could also crawl on a floor that's covered with dust or dirt, being careful not to get messy. In some sports like rock climbing, people "crawl" across rocks using their hands and feet. And sometimes you'll see animals crawling too - like snails slowly making their way up a garden wall.
How common is "crawl"?
Word crawl is considered uncommon in modern English. It appears most frequently in fiction texts and less often in other writings.
Definitions
noun
The act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops.
A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick.
A very slow pace.
Example: My computer has slowed down to a crawl since I installed that software package.
A piece of horizontally or vertically scrolling text overlaid on the main image.
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verb
To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground.
Example: Clutching my wounded side, I crawled back to the trench.
To move forward slowly, with frequent stops.
Example: The rush-hour traffic crawled around the bypass.
To act in a servile manner.
Example: Don't come crawling to me with your useless apologies!
(with "with") See crawl with.
To feel a swarming sensation.
Example: The horrible sight made my skin crawl.
To swim using the crawl stroke.
Example: I think I'll crawl the next hundred metres.
To move over an area on hands and knees.
Example: The baby crawled the entire second floor.
To visit while becoming inebriated.
Example: They crawled the downtown bars.
To visit files or web sites in order to index them for searching.
Example: Yahoo Search has updated its Slurp Crawler to crawl web sites faster and more efficiently.
