creeps

[kreeps] Origin

creeps

[kreeps]
noun (used with a singular verb)
Veterinary Pathology. a disease of the bones in sheep and cattle that causes pain in walking, resulting from a deficiency of phosphorus in the diet.

Origin:
so called from the effect on the animal's gait; see creep, -s3

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Creeps is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

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 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.
to enter or become evident inconspicuously, gradually, or insidiously (often followed by in or into:) The writer's personal bias occasionally creeps into the account.
EXPAND
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 followed by for): The ships crept for their anchor chains.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
12.
Archaic. to creep along or over.
noun
13.
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.
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.
EXPAND
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.
22.
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.
COLLAPSE
23.
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

creep·ing·ly, adverb
non·creep·ing, adjective
out·creep, verb (used with object), out·crept, out·creep·ing.
un·creep·ing, adjective


1. See crawl. 3. inch, crawl, dawdle, poke.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
creeps (kriːps)
 
pl n
informal the creeps a feeling of fear, repulsion, disgust, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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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
EXPAND
was 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


  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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