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verb (used without object)
1.
to move slowly with the body close to the ground, as a reptile or an insect, or a person on hands and knees.
2.
to approach slowly, imperceptibly, or stealthily (often followed by up): We crept up and peeked over the wall.
3.
to move or advance slowly or gradually: The automobile crept up the hill. Time just seems to creep along on these hot summer days.
4.
to sneak up behind someone or without someone's knowledge (usually followed by up on): The prisoners crept up on the guard and knocked him out.
5.
EXPANDto enter or become evident inconspicuously, gradually, or insidiously (often followed by in or into:) The writer's personal bias occasionally creeps into the account.
6.
to move or behave timidly or servilely.
7.
to grow along the ground, a wall, etc., as a plant.
8.
to advance or develop gradually so as to infringe on or supplant something else: creeping inflation; creeping socialism.
9.
to slip, slide, or shift gradually; become displaced.
10.
(of a metal object) to become deformed, as under continuous loads or at high temperatures.
11.
COLLAPSENautical. to grapple (usually followed by for): The ships crept for their anchor chains.
verb (used with object)
12.
Archaic. to creep along or over.
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Creeping
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
noun
Idiom13.
an act or instance of creeping: It seems as if time has slowed to a creep.
14.
Slang. a boring, disturbingly eccentric, painfully introverted, or obnoxious person.
15.
Slang. an intelligence or counterintelligence agent; spy.
16.
a gradual or inconspicuous increase, advance, change, or development: Avoid jargon creep in your writing. We are seeing the steady creep of consumerism.
17.
EXPANDGeology.
a.
the gradual movement downhill of loose soil, rock, gravel, etc.; solifluction.
b.
the slow deformation of solid rock resulting from constant stress applied over long periods.
18.
Mechanics. the gradual, permanent deformation of a body produced by a continued application of heat or stress.
19.
a grappling iron; grapnel.
20.
Firearms. the slack in a trigger mechanism before it releases the firing pin.
21.
22.
COLLAPSE23.
make one's flesh creep, to be frightening or repellent; cause one to experience uneasiness: The eerie stories made our flesh creep.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English crepen, Old English crēopan; cognate with Dutch kruipen, Old Norse krjūpa
before 900; Middle English crepen, Old English crēopan; cognate with Dutch kruipen, Old Norse krjūpa
Related forms
creep·ing·ly, adverb
non·creep·ing, adjective
out·creep, verb (used with object), out·crept, out·creep·ing.
un·creep·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Creeping
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
creep
O.E. creopan "to creep" (class II strong verb; past tense creap, pp. cropen), from P.Gmc. *kreupanan, from PIE base *greug-. Noun use for "despicable person" is 1935, Amer.Eng. slang, perhaps from earlier sense of "sneak thief" (1914). Creeper "a gilded rascal" is recorded from c.1600, and the word also
EXPANDwas used of certain classes of thieves, esp. those who robbed customers in brothels. The creeps first attested 1849, in Dickens.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
creep definition
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Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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