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creep

 - 6 dictionary results

creep

  [kreep] verb, crept, creep⋅ing, noun
Use creep in a Sentence
–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

Related forms:
creep⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. See crawl. 3. inch, crawl, dawdle, poke.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To creep
creep   (krēp)   
intr.v.   crept (krěpt), creep·ing, creeps

  1. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. To slip out of place; shift gradually.

  5. To have a tingling sensation, made by or as if by things moving stealthily: a moan that made my flesh creep.

n.  

  1. The act of creeping; a creeping motion or progress.

  2. Slang An annoyingly unpleasant or repulsive person.

  3. A slow flow of metal when under high temperature or great pressure.

  4. A slow change in a characteristic of electronic equipment, such as a decrease in power with continued usage.

  5. Geology The slow movement of rock debris and soil down a weathered slope.

  6. 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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
creep

  1. n.
    a weird person; an eerie person. : Charlie is such a creep when he's stoned.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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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-. Use for "despicable person" is 1935, Amer.Eng. slang, perhaps from earlier sense of "sneak thief" (1914). Creepy (1831) refers to the sensation of creeping in the flesh caused by horror or repugnance. Creepy-crawly first recorded 1858. The creeps first attested 1849, in Dickens.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

creep

In addition to the idiom beginning with creep, also see make one's flesh creep; the creeps.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Abbreviations & Acronyms
CREEP
Committee to Reelect the President
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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