creep
(krip)
v. crept or, sometimes, creeped; creep•ing,
n. v.i. 1. to move slowly with the body close to the ground, on hands and knees, or the like.
2. to approach slowly and stealthily (often fol. by up).
3. to advance slowly and often with difficulty: The car crept up the hill.
4. to sneak up behind someone (usu. fol. by up on): The prisoner crept up on the guard and knocked him out.
5. to become evident gradually (often fol. by in or into): The writer's bias creeps into the story.
6. to grow along the ground, a wall, etc., as a plant.
7. to slip, slide, or shift gradually.
8. (of a metal object) to become deformed, as under continuous loads or at high temperatures.
v.t. 9. Archaic. to creep along or over.
n. 10. an act or instance of creeping.
11. Slang. an eccentric or obnoxious person.
12. a. the gradual movement downhill of loose soil, rock, gravel, etc.; solifluction.
b. the slow deformation of solid rock resulting from constant stress applied over long periods.
13. Mech. the gradual, permanent deformation of a body produced by a continued application of heat or stress.
14. the creeps, a sensation of fear, disgust, or the like, as of something crawling over the skin: That movie gave me the creeps.
Idioms: make one's flesh creep, to cause one to be frightened or repelled.
[before 900; Middle English crepen, Old English crēopan; c. Old Saxon criopan, Old Norse krjūpa]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.