| 释义 |
▪ I. crawl, n.1|krɔːl|
[f. crawl v.1]
1. a. The action of crawling; a slow creeping motion.
1818Shelley Rev. Islam x. xliii, In the silence..Was heard on high the reptiles' hiss and crawl. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiv. (1856) 307, I rather dislike the crawl of centipede or slime of snail.
b. A walk at a leisurely pace. In beer-crawl, gin-crawl, pub-crawl, a slow progress from one drinking-place to another. slang.
1883Bird o' Freedom 7 Mar. 6/3 Phil Benjamin was taking his daily constitutional, which consists in what is in vulgar parlance designated ‘a gin crawl’. 1902Daily Chron. 3 Dec. 5/2 The cockney ‘beer crawl’. 1905Ibid. 28 Mar. 4/6 Glasgow's most fashionable Sunday parade, the ‘crawl’ on Great Western-road. 1915T. Burke Nights in Town 273 We did a ‘pub-crawl’ in Commercial Road and East India Dock Road. 1927Blackw. Mag. Sept. 336/2 During our evening gin crawls in the various camps. 1959Observer 24 May 16/3 Heads of the dress firms will take the 100 expected buyers on individual ‘pub-crawls’. 1961M. Jones Potbank xiii. 50 No other men under forty..came into the pub, except perhaps..as one short stop in a crawl.
c. In full crawl-stroke. A high-speed swimming stroke, in which the swimmer, lying face-downwards, usually with the face submerged, makes alternate overhand arm-strokes assisted by the quick movement of the legs.
1903Sinclair & Henry Swimming (ed. 4) iii. 89 A young swimmer named R. Cavill, who revolutionised all ideas about speed swimming for short distances by introducing a further modification of this style [sc. the ‘Trudgen’], which was at once termed the ‘crawl’ stroke. 1906Taylor & Gibson Extra Dry 32 Arthur Haddock..swam out with a rope in his teeth, using the Australian crawl. 1912F. Sachs Complete Swimmer 144 The double over-arm and crawl racers. 1926Westm. Gaz. 10 Sept., To the school children across the Atlantic the ‘crawl’ is as natural as the ancient ‘breast’ stroke to the average British child. 1930J. Weissmuller (title) Swimming the American Crawl. 1934J. T. Farrell Young Manhood (1936) xv. 340 He about-faced and swam the crawl stroke back to the pool edge. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 179 The type of stroke known as the Australian crawl—apparently first introduced about 1901. 1957Wodehouse Over Seventy xvii. 160 Perfecting my Australian crawl in the swimming-pool.
2. crawl space (see quot. 1963); also crawlway.
1951P. D. Close Building Insulation (ed. 4) iii. 67 Floors over unheated crawl spaces should be insulated. 1963Gloss. Build. Terms (B.S.I.) 9 Crawl space, crawlway, an under-floor space providing access to ducts..and of a height sufficient for crawling. 1965R. McDowell Hound's Tooth (1967) viii. 78 He..squirmed into the crawlway. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. iii. 5/4 We live near the water, so our house was built with a waterproof crawl space.
▪ II. crawl, n.2|krɔːl|
Also 7–8 crawle, craul(e. See also kraal.
[a. Colonial Du. kraal, a. Sp. corral: see corral.]
1. a. An enclosure, pen, or building for keeping hogs (in the West Indies).
1660Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 17 They build two or three little Houses, or more; by them called a Crawle, and in these, they first inclose these tame Hoggs. 1707Sloane Jamaica I. p. xvii, These Crawles or houses and sties built for feeding and breeding hogs. 1961F. G. Cassidy Jamaica Talk v. 95 Though sty is more common, crawl is still used today.
b. ‘On the coast of Africa, a pen for slaves awaiting shipment’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
2. A pen or enclosure of stakes and hurdles in shallow water on the sea-coast, to contain fish, turtles, etc. Also a reservoir for keeping caught turtles, lobsters, etc. in stock for the market.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Crawl, a sort of pen..formed by a barrier of stakes and hurdles on the sea-coast, to contain any sort of fish within it. 1833M. Scott Tom Cringle xvi. (1859) 420 The Turtle Crawls filled with beautiful clear water. 1883Pall Mall G. 21 Nov. 11/1 The custom is to give the turtles in stock..three days in the ‘crawl’ and three days in the tank. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 338 The spongers go ashore and build a pen, or ‘crawl’, of stakes, close to the water's edge.
3. A village, or enclosure of huts, of Bushmen, Hottentots, or other South African natives: in which sense commonly written kraal q.v.
▪ III. crawl, v.1|krɔːl|
Forms: 4 croul, creul, crul, 4–7 craule, crawle, 5–6 crall, 7 craul, 7– crawl.
[A rare word in ME. and apparently only northern; prob. from Norse: cf. Da. and Norw. kravle to crawl, climb up, Sw. krafla to grope, Icel. krafla to paw or scrabble with the hands (Mod.Icel. krafla fram úr to crawl out of). The word existed also in West Germanic, but the corresponding OE. form *craflian has not been found.
To Norse krafla corresponds an OLG. *kraƀalôn, whence 15th c. HG. krabelen, krabeln to crawl, creep, still used in various HG. dialects, but now replaced in mod.G. by krabbeln (see Kluge). The word is a frequentative from an OTeut. vb. stem *kraƀ-: kreƀ- to scratch, claw, paw: cf. crab v.2 and see Grimm krabbeln, kribbeln.
The diphthongal ME. craule, crawle (from cravle), was reduced to crall by end of 15th c., riming with small in Spenser: cf. the form-history of awl. But the phonology of the early forms crewle, creule, croule, crule, is obscure; crewle reminds us of MDu. crēvelen, but croule, crule, suggests some confusion with crowl, Fr. crouler: see esp. sense 6.]
1. a. intr. To move slowly in a prone position, by dragging the body along close to the ground, as a child upon its hands and knees, any short-limbed quadruped or reptile, an insect, serpent, worm, slug.
a1300Cursor M. 6612 (Cott.) Þai fand bot wormes creuland emid [v.r. Gött. crouland, Fairf. crawlande, Trin. crulyng]. Ibid. 11836 (Cott.) Wormes creuld [Gött. cruled, Fairf. crauled, Tr. cruled] here and þare. 1570Levins Manip. 44/1 To craule, repere, serpere. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. i. 22 Serpents small..Which swarming all about his legs did crall. 1665Hooke Microgr. 201 Spiders..craul under the Rail. 1720Gay Poems (1745) I. 100 Slow crawl'd the snail. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola iii. xii, The children trotted or crawled towards her. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile xiii. 361 We had to crawl into the sanctuary upon our hands and knees. 1890Besant Demoniac i. 15 They spoke of worms, reptiles, and things that crawl.
fig.1844Mrs. Browning Poems, Dead Pan xxxi, See! the wine crawls in the dust, Worm-like.
†b. trans. To crawl upon or over. Obs. rare.
a1641Suckling Poems (1646) 48 Snailes there had crawl'd the Hay. 1796E. Parsons Myst. Warning I. 150 The veriest wretch that crawls the earth.
c. intr. To swim using the ‘crawl’ (see crawl n.1 1 c).
1911T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 107 Using crawling and trudgeon strokes in swimming. 1913― Home Lett. (1954) 259 He..swam all over the Euphrates, ‘crawling’ about.
2. transf.
a. To walk, go, or move along with a slow and dragging motion.
c1460Towneley Myst. 155 The aged Symeon cralls to kyrk. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 444, I can no further crawle. 1639Fuller Holy War ii. xxv. (1840) 81 The patriarch crawled to Rome, being a hundred years old. 1681Cotton Wond. Peak 25 This Fountain is so very small, Th' Observer hardly can perceive it crawl Through the sedg. 1798Southey Eclogues v, The poor old woman Told me that she was forced to crawl abroad And pick the hedges. 1810Scott Lady of L. vi. xxiv, Mark it as the sunbeams crawl, Inch after inch, along the wall. 1835Lytton Rienzi vi. ii, Gloomy vehicles..crawling heavily along.
b. To encroach stealthily upon. rare.
1826Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 241 This forest has been crawled upon by favourites and is now much smaller.
3. fig.
a. To move or progress very slowly.
1605Shakes. Lear i. i. 42 While we Vnburthen'd crawle toward death. 1654R. Whitlock Zootomia 124 Sicknesse posteth to us, but crawleth from us. 1850Kingsley Alt. Locke xxx, Months and seasons crawled along.
b. To move stealthily, sneakingly, or abjectly.
1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 103 Cranmer..Hath crawl'd into the fauour of the King. a1716South (J.), That litter of absurd opinions that crawl about the world. 1805Scott Let. to Miss Seward in Lockhart xiv, These Gaelic poems..are very unequal..often drivelling and crawling in the very extremity of tenuity. 1813Shelley Q. Mab iv, Art thou not the veriest slave that e'er Crawled on the loathing earth?
c. To behave sycophantically or abjectly. Freq. const. to. colloq.
1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 23 To crawl, to ingratiate oneself with, to make up to. 1966A. Sachs Jail Diary xxi. 187, I suck up to the police... I don't actually crawl to them but I am so eager to win their approval. 1966Listener 29 Sept. 445/1 Instead of maintaining an appropriately hostile stance.., Mr Krushchev was ‘crawling’ to Washington. 1970P. Y. Carter Mr. Campion's Falcon xxi. 155 I'm going to have to crawl... I want to grovel fantastically. I'm afraid I really do need help.
4. Of plants, etc.: To spread over a surface with extending stems or branches; to trail, creep. (rare.)
1634Milton Comus 295 A green mantling vine That crawls along the side of yon small hill. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xv. 38 A little..Nerve..which crawls up and down the Coat of the Liver. 1867M. E. Herbert Cradle L. ii. 57 Passion-flowers, ipomæas, and hibiscus crawled over every wall.
5. transf. To be all ‘alive’ with crawling things; also fig.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 204 All my skin cralled with lyce. 1658S. Richardson Torments of Hell in Phenix (1708) II. 435 Dead Bodies..that lie rotting..until they crawl all over with Worms. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 127 The whole ground seemed alive, and crawling with unceasing destruction [ants]. 1863J. G. Murphy Comm. Gen. i. 20 Let the waters crawl with the crawler. 1902Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 185 There's a whole switchboard full o' nickel-plated muckin's which I haven't begun to play with yet. The starboard side's crawlin' with 'em. 1905Strand Mag. May 567/1 Shore and bushes near Wells and Blakeney are simply ‘crawling’ with pied fly-catchers and redstarts. 1916‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thou. 305 Country districts crawling with troops. 1924Wodehouse Bill the Conqueror vii. 143 ‘He must be quite rich.’ ‘Crawling with money.’ 1945E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 88 The country is crawling with Communists. 1950W. Stevens Let. 27 Feb. (1967) 671 The place is crawling with books that we have no room for.
6. To have a sensation as of things crawling over the skin; to feel ‘creepy’, to ‘creep’.[The first quot. here may really be from F. crouler ‘to shake, tremble, quiver, quake’ (Cotgr.): see crowl.] a1300Cursor M. 3567 (Cott., Gött.) Quen þat [a man] sua bicums ald..It crepes crouland in his bak [Trin. hit crepeþ crulyng, Fairf. wiþ crepinge croulis]. 1881Confess. Frivolous Girl 161 Kissing a ragged infant or two, whose dirtiness positively made me crawl. 1889M. E. Wilkins Far away Melody (1891) 15 You make me crawl all over, talkin' so much about dyin'.
▪ IV. † crawl, v.2 Obs.
Also 6 crall, 7 craul.
To entangle.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Tim. iii. (R.), Beyng cralled in the deuilles snares. a1633Austin Medit. (1635) 282 When we have crauled, and ravel'd our Soules into Knots, at last..wee fall, like a Weaver, to Cutting. Ibid. 284 The unprofitable Web of my Life, which in the Weaving I have so strained..Knit, and crawled.
▪ V. crawl
obs. form of crowl v. |