crawls; crawled; crawling
1
a
: to move on your hands and knees
Does the baby crawl yet?
We got down on our knees and crawled through a small opening.
The baby crawled across the floor toward her mother.
b
: to move with the body close to or on the ground
The soldiers crawled forward on their bellies.
The snake crawled into its hole.
There's a spider crawling [=moving forward on its legs] up the wall.
2
a
: to move slowly
They're doing construction on the road, so traffic is crawling.
I worked late into the night, and it was 2 a.m. before I finally crawled into bed.
The bus crawled along the rough and narrow road.
The days slowly crawled by.
Traffic has crawled to a stop/standstill. [=has come to a complete stop after moving very slowly]
Work on the project has crawled to a standstill.
b
: to move slowly on, across, or through (something)
We all got into the old truck and crawled the streets of the city looking for him.
3
: to be full of many people, insects, animals, etc.
—usually used in the phrase be crawling with
The courthouse is crawling [=teeming] with reporters today.
The table was crawling with ants.
4
British, informal + disapproving
: to be extremely nice to someone in order to get approval or some advantage for yourself
He's been crawling [=creeping] to the boss for months, so it's no surprise he got a promotion.
1
: a very slow speed
Near the construction site, traffic had slowed to a crawl.
The bus was moving along at a crawl.
2
: a way of swimming in which the swimmer lies facing down in the water and moves first one arm over the head and then the other while kicking the legs
Her strongest stroke is the crawl.
Cite this Entry
“Crawl.” Merriam-Webster.com Simple Definition, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/simple/crawl. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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