crawl

verb

/krɔːl/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they crawl	/krɔːl/ /krɔːl/
he / she / it crawls	/krɔːlz/ /krɔːlz/
past simple crawled	/krɔːld/ /krɔːld/
past participle crawled	/krɔːld/ /krɔːld/
-ing form crawling	/ˈkrɔːlɪŋ/ /ˈkrɔːlɪŋ/

Idioms Phrasal Verbs

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[intransitive] (+ adv./prep.) to move forward on your hands and knees or with your body close to the ground爬；爬行；匍匐行进
- Our baby is just starting to crawl.我们的宝宝刚开始会爬。
- A man was crawling away from the burning wreckage.一个男人正爬离燃烧着的残骸。
- She crawled under the fence.她爬到栅栏下面。
Topics Life stagesc1
Extra Examples
- As night fell, we managed to crawl back to our lines.夜幕降临时，我们设法爬回了我们的防线。
- Has the baby started to crawl yet?宝宝开始会爬了吗？
- We spent an hour crawling around on our hands and knees looking for the key.我们趴在地上找了一个小时的钥匙。
- She was forced to crawl along through the thickening mist.她不得不在越来越浓的雾中缓缓行驶。
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- quickly
- slowly
- about
- …
verb + crawl
- manage to
- start to
preposition
- across
- along
- into
- …
phrases
- crawl on (your) hands and knees
See full entry
[intransitive] (+ adv./prep.) when an insect, a spider, etc. crawls, it moves forward on its legs（昆虫）爬行
- There's a spider crawling up your leg.有只蜘蛛正顺着你的腿往上爬。
[intransitive] (+ adv./prep.) to move forward very slowly缓慢行进
- The traffic was crawling along.来往车辆缓缓而行。
- The weeks crawled by.几个星期慢慢地过去了。
Extra Examples
- The traffic was crawling as I left the city.当我离开这座城市时，交通拥挤不堪。
- The taxi crawled to a halt.出租车慢慢停了下来。
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- quickly
- slowly
- about
- …
verb + crawl
- manage to
- start to
preposition
- across
- along
- into
- …
phrases
- crawl on (your) hands and knees
See full entry
[intransitive] crawl (to somebody) (informal, disapproving) to be too friendly or helpful to somebody in authority, in a way that is not sincere, especially in order to get an advantage from them卑躬屈膝；谄媚；巴结；拍马屁
- She's always crawling to the boss.她对老板总是谄媚奉承。

Word OriginMiddle English: of unknown origin; possibly related to Swedish kravla and Danish kravle.

Idioms

come/crawl out of the woodwork

(informal, disapproving) if you say that somebody comes/crawls out of the woodwork, you mean that they have suddenly appeared in order to express an opinion or to take advantage of a situation突然露面；纷纷出笼
- When he won the lottery, all sorts of distant relatives came out of the woodwork.他博彩中奖后，八杆子打不着的亲戚都突然来登门造访。

make your skin crawl

to make you feel afraid or full of horror使人毛骨悚然；让人起鸡皮疙瘩
- Just the sight of him makes my skin crawl.一看到他，我就浑身起鸡皮疙瘩。
Topics Feelingsc2

crawl

noun

/krɔːl/

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[singular] a very slow speed缓慢的速度
- The traffic slowed to a crawl.来往的车辆放缓速度慢慢前行。
- The traffic was moving at a slow crawl.车流在缓慢移动。
- Westbound traffic was down to a crawl.西行的车辆慢得像在爬行。
see also pub crawl
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- slow
preposition
- at a crawl
verb + crawl
- be down to
- slow down to
- slow to
- …
See full entry
enlarge image
(often the crawl)
[singular, uncountable] a fast swimming stroke that you do lying on your front moving one arm over your head, and then the other, while kicking with your feet爬泳；自由泳
- a swimmer doing the crawl游自由泳的运动员
- He struck out across the pool in a powerful crawl.他以一种有力的爬行方式冲过游泳池。
Topics Sports: water sportsc2