Link Centre Dictionary

creep

UK/kɹiːp/ US/kʰɹiːp/ fairly common informal slang
verb (4) noun (4)

verb

1.

move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground

  • “The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed”
Synonyms
2.

to go stealthily or furtively

  • “..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor”
Synonyms
3.

grow in such a way as to cover (a building, for example)

  • “ivy grew over the walls of the university buildings”
Synonyms
4.

noun

1.
2.
3.

a pen that is fenced so that young animals can enter but adults cannot

4.

a slow creeping mode of locomotion (on hands and knees or dragging the body)

  • “a crawl was all that the injured man could manage”
  • “the traffic moved at a creep”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *kreupan, from Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to twist, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ- (“to turn, wind”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian krûpe (“to creep, crawl”), Central Franconian kruffe (“to creep, crawl”), Dutch kruipen (“to creep, crawl”), Low German krepen, krupen (“to creep, crawl”), Danish krybe (“to creep”), Faroese krúpa (“to creep”), Icelandic krjúpa (“to kneel down, to genuflect, to get down on one's knees”), Norwegian Bokmål krype (“to creep”), Norwegian Nynorsk krjupa, krjupe, krypa, krype (“to creep, crawl”), Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”). The noun is derived from the verb. Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *kreupaną Proto-West Germanic *kreupan Old English crēopan Middle English crepen English creep

Phrases

  • blue creeping gromwell
  • creep in
  • creep joint other terms
  • creeping barberry
  • creeping buttercup
  • creeping Charlie
  • creeping crud
  • creeping determinism
  • creeping disease
  • downhill creep creeping movement
  • soil creep creeping movement

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.