(crawls, crawling, crawled)
1.
When you crawl, you move forward on your hands and knees.
Don't worry if your baby seems a little reluctant to crawl or walk...
I began to crawl on my hands and knees towards the door...
As he tried to crawl away, he was hit in the shoulder.
VERB: V, V prep/adv, V prep/adv
2.
When an insect crawls somewhere, it moves there quite slowly.
I watched the moth crawl up the outside of the lampshade.
VERB: V prep
3.
If someone or something crawls somewhere, they move or progress slowly or with great difficulty.
I crawled out of bed at nine-thirty...
Hairpin turns force the car to crawl at 10 miles an hour in some places.
VERB: V prep/adv, V
•
Crawl is also a noun.
The traffic on the approach road slowed to a crawl.
N-SING: a N
4.
If you say that a place is crawling with people or animals, you are emphasizing that it is full of them. (INFORMAL)
This place is crawling with police.
VERB: only cont, V with n [emphasis]
5.
The crawl is a kind of swimming stroke which you do lying on your front, swinging one arm over your head, and then the other arm.
N-SING: the N
6.
If something makes your skin crawl or makes your flesh crawl, it makes you feel shocked or disgusted.
I hated this man, his very touch made my skin crawl.
PHRASE: V inflects
7.