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groveling

   Also found in: Legal, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.04 sec.
grov·el  (grvl, grv-)
intr.v. grov·eled also grov·elled, grov·el·ing also grov·el·ling, grov·els also grov·els
1. To behave in a servile or demeaning manner; cringe.
2. To lie or creep in a prostrate position, as in subservience or humility.
3. To give oneself over to base pleasures: "Have we not groveled here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?" (Walt Whitman).

[Back-formation from obsolete groveling, prone, face downward, from Middle English : (on) grufe, face downwards (from Old Norse grfu, from grfa, to grovel) + -ling, adv. suff.; see -ling2.]

grovel·er n.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.groveling - totally submissive
submissive - inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others or showing such inclination; "submissive servants"; "a submissive reply"; "replacing troublemakers with more submissive people"


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
He refused the proposal of the enterprising speculators by letter in these words: 'My house is a standing monument of the picturesque and beautiful, amid the mean, dishonest, and groveling constructions of a mean, dishonest, and groveling age.
This wish of mine was treated as groveling, and even worse than republican, by the cote droit of our piece, while the cote gauche sneered at it as manifesting a sneaking regard for station without the spirit to avow it.
They blocked the way; they seized him, and though he fell, groveling upon his knees before them, begging for his life, they bound him and hurled him to the floor of the inner temple.
 
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