Creep definition
The act of creeping; a creeping motion or progress.
noun
To slip slightly out of position.
verb
The act of creeping.
noun
To move slowly, stealthily, timidly, or furtively.
verb
To grow along the ground or a wall, as some plants.
verb
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A slow flow of metal when under high temperature or great pressure.
noun
A slow change in a characteristic of electronic equipment, such as a decrease in power with continued usage.
noun
To come on gradually and almost unnoticed.
verb
The gradual deformation of a material, esp. a metal or alloy, due to constant stress, high temperature, etc.
noun
(intransitive) To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.
Prices have been creeping up all year.
verb
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To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.
A creeping sycophant.
verb
(informal, pejorative) A frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills or who induces psychosomatic facial itching.
Stop following me, you creep!
noun
(slang) A person regarded as very annoying, disgusting, etc.
noun
(geol.) The slow, almost imperceptible movement of soil and loose rock down a slope.
noun
A usually unplanned and gradual shift or increase in uses or objectives away from what was originally specified or limited. Often used in combination.
The function creep of using social security numbers for general identification purposes; mission creep from a military peacekeeping role to one of providing economic development.
noun
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To move along with the body close to the ground, as on hands and knees, in the way that a baby does.
verb
The definition of a creep is the act of moving slowly or is slang for a scary or odd person who is unpleasant or repulsive.
An example of a creep is a hill that is moving very slowly.
An example of a creep is a scary, leering old man who always stares at you when you walk by his house.
noun
To change in shape as the result of constant stress, temperature, etc.
verb
A creeping movement.
noun
To creep is defined as to move slowly and quietly while close to the ground.
An example of creep is when you sneak in after everyone is sleeping and you walk on tip-toes in the dark.
verb
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To slip out of place; shift gradually.
verb
To have a tingling sensation, made by or as if by things moving stealthily.
A moan that made my flesh creep.
verb
To move stealthily or cautiously.
verb
To move or proceed very slowly.
Traffic creeps at that hour.
verb
To grow or spread along a surface, rooting at intervals or clinging by means of suckers or tendrils.
verb
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To grow horizontally under the ground, as the rhizomes of many plants.
verb
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.
verb
To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.
The sight made my flesh creep.
verb
The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails)
noun
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A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
noun
A slight displacement of an object: the slight movement of something.
noun
The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
Christmas creep. Feature creep. Instruction creep. Mission creep.
noun
(materials science) An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.
noun
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(informal, pejorative) An annoying irritating person.
noun
(agriculture) A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.
noun
(derogatory) The Committee to Re-elect the President, which raised money for Richard Nixon's campaign for 1972 reelection.
pronoun
(geology) The slow movement of rock debris and soil down a weathered slope.
noun
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To cringe; fawn.
verb
(intransitive) To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.
verb
(intransitive) To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.
verb
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.
verb
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(informal) A sensation of fear or repugnance, as if things were crawling on one's skin.
That house gives me the creeps.
noun
To move with the body close to the ground, as on hands and knees.
verb
(slang) An annoyingly unpleasant or repulsive person.
noun
creep out
- to make frightened or disgusted
idiom
make one's flesh creep
- to give one a feeling of fear, repugnance, etc.
idiom
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the creeps
- a feeling of fear, repugnance, etc.
idiom
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of creep
- Middle English crepen from Old English crēopan
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to twist, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with West Frisian krippe, krûpe, Eastern Frisian crjippa (“to creep”), Low German krepen, krupen, Dutch kruipen (“to creep, crawl”), Middle High German kriefen (“to creep”), Danish krybe (“to creep”), Norwegian krype (“to creep”), Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”), Icelandic krjúpa (“to stoop”).
From Wiktionary
- From the above verb.
From Wiktionary