Creeping definition | Dictionary.com

Synonyms

crawling, fawning, obsequious, prostrate, reptile, serpentine, groveling, dragging, clinging, spreading, horizontal, recumbent

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Creeping - 5 dictionary results

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creep

[kreep]

verb, crept, creep⋅ing, noun

–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 fol. 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 fol. by up on): The prisoners crept up on the guard and knocked him out.

5.	to enter or become evident inconspicuously, gradually, or insidiously (often fol. 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.	Nautical. to grapple (usually fol. by for): The ships crept for their anchor chains.

–verb (used with object)

12.	Archaic. to creep along or over.

–noun

13.	an act or instance of creeping.

14.	Slang. a boring, disturbingly eccentric, painfully introverted, or obnoxious person.

15.	Slang. an intelligence or counterintelligence agent; spy.

16.

Geology.

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.

17.	Mechanics. the gradual, permanent deformation of a body produced by a continued application of heat or stress.

18.	a grappling iron; grapnel.

19.	Firearms. the slack in a trigger mechanism before it releases the firing pin.

20.	creep feeder.

21.	the creeps, Informal. a sensation of horror, fear, disgust, etc., suggestive of the feeling induced by something crawling over the skin: That horror movie gave me the creeps.

—Idiom

22.	make one's flesh creep, to be frightening or repellent; cause one to experience uneasiness: The eerie stories made our flesh creep.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME crepen, OE crēopan; c. D kruipen, ON krjūpa

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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creep (krēp) Pronunciation Key
intr.v. crept (krěpt), creep·ing, creeps

To move with the body close to the ground, as on hands and knees.
1. To move stealthily or cautiously.
2. To move or proceed very slowly: Traffic creeps at that hour.
3. To grow or spread along a surface, rooting at intervals or clinging by means of suckers or tendrils.
4. To grow horizontally under the ground, as the rhizomes of many plants.
Botany
1. To grow or spread along a surface, rooting at intervals or clinging by means of suckers or tendrils.
2. To grow horizontally under the ground, as the rhizomes of many plants.
To slip out of place; shift gradually.
To have a tingling sensation, made by or as if by things moving stealthily: a moan that made my flesh creep.

The act of creeping; a creeping motion or progress.
Slang An annoyingly unpleasant or repulsive person.
A slow flow of metal when under high temperature or great pressure.
A slow change in a characteristic of electronic equipment, such as a decrease in power with continued usage.
Geology The slow movement of rock debris and soil down a weathered slope.
creeps Informal A sensation of fear or repugnance, as if things were crawling on one's skin: That house gives me the creeps.

[Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan.]

creep·ing (krē'pĭng) Pronunciation Key
adj. Developing gradually over a period of time: "a creeping sense of cultural dread" (Andrew Sullivan).

creeping
noun
a slow 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" [syn: crawl]

Creeping

Creep"ing\, a. 1. Crawling, or moving close to the ground. "Every creeping thing." --Gen. vi. 20.

2. Growing along, and clinging to, the ground, or to a wall, etc., by means of rootlets or tendrils.

Casements lined with creeping herbs. --Cowper.

Ceeping crowfoot (Bot.), a plant, the Ranunculus repens.

Creeping snowberry, an American plant (Chiogenes hispidula) with white berries and very small round leaves having the flavor of wintergreen.