/kɹiːp/, [kʰɹiːp]
- intransitiveTo move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
“Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.”
“One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone, watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him.”
“Reed tips face the dawn
shivering in the autumn wind
At P'u-k'ou the winter tide
has not yet come
Sunrise on the sandy bank
pocked with narrow caves
Pale frogs and dark crabs
creep without end.”
- intransitiveTo grow across a surface rather than upwards.
- intransitiveTo move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
“He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.”
“Electrification of the Eastern Region main line from Strasbourg, incidentally, is steadily creeping nearer to Paris, and is now complete as far as Château Thierry, 59 miles away; [...].”
“She crept up the stairs, keeping well into the side because she knew they were less likely to creak this way.”
- intransitiveTo make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.
“Prices have been creeping up all year.”
- To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself.
“Old age creeps upon us.”
“[…]guard his understanding from being imposed on by the willful or at least undesigned sophistry which creeps into most of the books of argument.”
“Paranoia strikes deep / Into your life it will creep / It starts when you're always afraid / Step out of line, the man come and take you away”
- To slip, or to become slightly displaced.
“The collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying.”
“The quicksilver on a mirror may creep.”
- To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.
“A creeping sycophant.”
“To come as humbly as they used to creep / To holy altars.”
- To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.
“The sight made my flesh creep.”
- To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.
- intransitive, slangTo covertly have sex (with a person other than one's primary partner); to cheat with.
“Honey came in and she caught me red-handed / Creeping with the girl next door / Picture this we were both butt naked / Banging on the bathroom floor”
“I don't wanna know / If you're playin' me, keep it on the low / 'Cause my heart can't take it anymore / And if you're creepin', please don't let it show”
“"Now you want the nigga out 'cause he creeping with his baby momma."”
- countable, uncountableThe movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).
- countable, uncountableA relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
- countable, uncountableA slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.
- uncountableThe gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
“Christmas creep”
“feature creep”
“instruction creep”
- countable, uncountableIn sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.
- countable, uncountableAn increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.
- countable, uncountableThe imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.
- countable, uncountableA barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.
Formscreeps(present, singular, third-person) · creeping(participle, present) · crept(past) · creeped(past) · crope(archaic, past) · crept(participle, past) · creeped(participle, past) · crope(archaic, participle, past) · cropen(archaic, participle, past) · creeps(plural)