crawl English · revision 39699

+ English has a verb ''crawl'', to creep, with its noun, and a separate noun ''crawl'', a pen for fish or turtles, from Dutch.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /kɹɔːl/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /kɹɔl/, /kɹɑl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|creep; slow movement}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=a1225 (c1200), Vices and Virtues|origins=non krafla}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is probably [[bor|non|krafla|t=to paw, scrabble with the hands]],^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966)^(Weekley 1921) in Middle English [[m|enm|craulen]], earlier [[m|enm|creulen]].^(MED)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Barnhart and the OED compare [[m|da|kravle]], [[m|no|kravle|t=to crawl, climb up]] and [[m|sv|kravla]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026) and the Middle English Dictionary also compares [[m|dum|crevelen]], suggesting some Low German influence.^(MED) The OED notes that the word was rare in Middle English and apparently northern, and that no matching Old English verb is recorded.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Klein, Weekley and Etymonline connect it with [[crab]],^(Klein 1966)^(Weekley 1921)^(Etymonline) and Weekley takes its original sense to be "to claw one's way".^(Weekley 1921) Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English call the origin unknown, comparing only the Scandinavian verbs.^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010) Johnson (1755) derived it from Dutch.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To swarm or be crawling with something: about 1200, in ''Vices and Virtues'', where a foul belly is "crawling full of worms".^(MED) The sense "to move slowly with the body close to the ground" is first recorded in the ''Cursor Mundi'' (a1400, composed about 1325).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense "to feel as if things were crawling over the skin" is equally old, in another manuscript of the ''Cursor Mundi'',^(OED 2026) and Etymonline dates it to about 1300.^(Etymonline) From the 15th century the verb was used of people walking slowly and draggingly,^(OED 2026)^(MED)^(Etymonline) and Shakespeare used it figuratively for very slow progress in ''King Lear'' and for stealthy or abject movement in ''Henry VIII''.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined it as to creep, to move slowly without rising from the ground, "as a worm".^(Johnson 1755) The sense "to be alive with crawling things" is recorded from 1576;^(OED 2026) in Scots and in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire dialect it was used of insects and vermin swarming, as in "the bed crawls wi' fleas".^(Wright 1898) The sense "to behave servilely, to toady" is recorded in Green's from about 1790,^(GDoS) though the OED's first example is RAF slang of 1943.^(OED 2026) The noun came from the verb: the act of crawling from 1817, in Shelley's ''Laon and Cythna'',^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) a leisurely round of public houses, ''pub-crawl'' or ''gin-crawl'', from 1877,^(OED 2026)^(GDoS) and the swimming stroke from 1903.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) According to Etymonline, the stroke was so called because the swimmer's movement resembles crawling.^(Etymonline) In film and television, lines of text moving across the screen have been called a ''crawl'' since 1948.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c1200 – to swarm or teem (with worms).^(MED)

+ * a1400 – to move with the body close to the ground.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1400 – to have a creeping sensation on the skin.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1460 – to walk slowly and draggingly.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1576 – to be alive with crawling things.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1616 – to move or progress very slowly (Shakespeare).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1637 – of plants, to spread over a surface (Milton).^(OED 2026)

+ * c1790 – (slang) to behave sycophantically.^(GDoS)

+ * 1817 – noun, the act of crawling.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1877 – noun, a slow round of drinking places.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1903 – noun, the swimming stroke.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1911 – verb, to swim the crawl.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1948 – noun, text moving across a screen.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To move slowly on hands and knees, or with the body close to the ground, as a baby or a [[snake]] does.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # To move or progress very slowly: ''Cars crawled through the roadworks for an hour.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (informal) To behave in a [[servile]] way in order to win favour; to [[fawn]] or [[grovel]].^(Collins 2023)^(GDoS)

+ # To be covered or swarming with crawling creatures or other unpleasant things: ''The old shed was crawling with spiders.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # Of the skin, to feel as if insects were moving over it, from fear or disgust.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # To swim using the crawl.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The act of crawling; a slow, creeping movement or pace.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A fast [[swimming]] stroke in which the swimmer lies face down, kicks the legs and brings each arm over the head in turn.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (chiefly British) A slow round of several bars or [[pub|alt=pubs]], usually ''pub crawl''.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Lines of text that move across a film or television screen.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[crawler]]

+ * [[crawlingly]]

+ * [[crawly]]

+ * [[pub crawl]]

+ * [[crawl space]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|pen in water}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1661, E. Hickeringill, Jamaica Viewed}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The pen is [[bor|nl|kraal]],^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) which the OED derives from [[m|es|corral]];^(OED 2026) the Shorter Oxford takes it from [[m|pt|curral]].^(SOED 2002) Weekley calls it a variant of [[corral]] and [[kraal]].^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the West Indies, an enclosure or building for keeping hogs: 1661, in Edmund Hickeringill's ''Jamaica Viewed''.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1682 it was used of a pen of stakes and hurdles in shallow coastal water, or a tank, for keeping fish, turtles or lobsters,^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) and Smyth's ''Sailor's Word-Book'' (1867) also defines it as a pen on the African coast for enslaved people awaiting shipment.^(OED 2026) In the late 18th century it was also used for a village or enclosure of huts in southern Africa, the sense now carried by ''kraal''.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1661 – a hog pen in the West Indies.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1682 – a pen in shallow water for fish or turtles.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1771 – a southern African village or kraal (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[enclosure]] in shallow water, or a tank, for keeping live fish, [[turtle|alt=turtles]] or [[lobster|alt=lobsters]].^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[creep]]

+ * [[crab]]

+ * [[scrawl]]

+ * [[kraal]]

+ * [[corral]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}