creeper

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English crepere,^[2][3] inherited from Old English crēopere (“one who creeps, cripple”),^[2][3][4][5] an agent noun from crēopan (“to creep”) with the suffix -ere.^[2] The OED and the Shorter Oxford analyse it as creep with -er.^[6][7] Etymonline also gives an Old English creopera (“one who creeps”).^[4] It is recorded as a surname in 1221.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who creeps, and in Old English a cripple: the Gloucester fragments say that an old church was hung all round with crutches and with creópera sceamelum, cripples' stools.^[5][6] Another Old English text also calls a lame boy a creópere.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it was already the name of a grapnel dragged along the bottom of a sea or river, recorded before 1400 in the alliterative Morte Arthure;^[6][7] a small iron firedog set between the andirons was a creeper from 1556 to 1833.^[6][7] From 1577 it meant a creeping animal, especially a louse,^[6][4] a sense common in slang from 1606.^[9] The figurative creeper, one who goes about stealthily or in a mean, servile way, is recorded from 1589 in Puttenham,^[6] and in slang from 1622 it was a toady.^[9] Bacon used it in 1626 of plants that climb on a support, like ivy;^[6][4][10] Johnson (1755) gave this plant sense first, quoting Bacon, and second an iron used to slide along a grate.^[11] From 1661 it was the name of small birds that climb up and down the trunks and branches of trees.^[6][4] In the 19th century a creeper was also a hack journalist paid by the line (1824–26, in W. Irving).^[6][9] From 1889 the plural was slang for the feet and for soft-soled shoes,^[6] which in the 20th century were called brothel creepers.^[7] In cricket a creeper is a ball that runs low along the ground.^[7] In English dialects a creeper could be a louse or an insect larva used as bait, a grapnel, or a woman's patten.^[12][6]

Timeline

• before 1400 – a grapnel for dragging the bottom of the sea or a river.^[6][7]
• 1556 – a small iron firedog (obsolete by 1833).^[6]
• 1577 – a creeping animal, especially a louse.^[6][4]
• 1589 – figurative, one who goes about stealthily or servilely.^[6]
• 1622 – a toady, a sycophant.^[9]
• 1626 – a creeping or climbing plant.^[6][10]
• 1661 – a small bird that climbs about trees.^[6][4]
• 1824 – a penny-a-line journalist (to 1826).^[6][9]
• 1889 – the feet; soft-soled shoes.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or animal that creeps, especially an insect or reptile.^[13][2][6]
2. A plant that grows along the ground or climbs a wall or tree by means of tendrils or rootlets, such as ivy or Virginia creeper.^[13][2][6]
3. Any of various small birds that climb about the trunks of trees looking for insects, especially the treecreeper.^[13][2][6]
4. A grapnel for dragging the bottom of a river or lake.^[13][14][6]
5. A low board on casters on which a mechanic lies to work under a car.^[13][14]
6. A one-piece garment for a baby.^[14]
7. A metal frame with spikes fixed to a shoe or boot to stop it slipping on ice.^[14]
8. (slang) Plural: soft-soled shoes, also called brothel creepers: He turned up in a drape jacket and suede creepers.^[7][6]
9. (cricket) A ball that travels low along the ground.^[7]
10. (archaic) A servile person, a toady.^[2][9]
11. (obsolete, 1824–1826) A hack writer paid by the line.^[2][6]
12. (obsolete, 1556–1833) A small iron firedog placed on a hearth between the andirons.^[6][7]

Word family

• honeycreeper
• woodcreeper
• Virginia creeper
• trumpet creeper

Related words

• creep
• creepy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Reaney, P. H.; Wilson, R. M. (1991), A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd ed., London: Routledge
9. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin