| Noun | 1. | crawl - a very slow movement; "the traffic advanced at a crawl"movement, move, motion - the act of changing location from one place to another; "police controlled the motion of the crowd"; "the movement of people from the farms to the cities"; "his move put him directly in my path" | |
| 2. | crawl - a swimming stroke; arms are moved alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kickswimming stroke - a method of moving the arms and legs to push against the water and propel the swimmer forward flutter kick - a swimming kick; the legs are moved rapidly up and down without bending the knees | |
| 3. | crawl - 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" | |
| Verb | 1. | crawl - move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground; "The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed"go, locomote, move, travel - change location; move, travel, or proceed; "How fast does your new car go?"; "We travelled from Rome to Naples by bus"; "The policemen went from door to door looking for the suspect"; "The soldiers moved towards the city in an attempt to take it before night fell" | |
| 2. | crawl - feel as if crawling with insects; "My skin crawled--I was terrified"feel - be felt or perceived in a certain way; "The ground feels shaky"; "The sheets feel soft" | |
| 3. | crawl - be crawling with; "The old cheese was crawling with maggots"pullulate, swarm, teem - be teeming, be abuzz; "The garden was swarming with bees"; "The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen"; "her mind pullulated with worries" | |
| 4. | crawl - show submission or fearbend, flex - form a curve; "The stick does not bend" | |
| 5. | crawl - swim by doing the crawl; "European children learn the breast stroke; they often don't know how to crawl"swim - travel through water; "We had to swim for 20 minutes to reach the shore"; "a big fish was swimming in the tank" | |