creepy-crawly
/kriːpiˈkrɔːli
/noun (plural creepy-crawlies) informal
A spider, worm, or other small flightless creature, especially when considered unpleasant or frightening: Sylvia started to hallucinate, seeing creepy-crawlies on her bed...
- Over and over again he regales the reader with proof that snakes, spiders, crocodiles and creepy-crawlies have acquired a taste for tourist blood.
- One of the reservations in my mind about going out to the tropics was the number of insects and other creepy-crawlies which were bound to predominate in these parts.
- It is a basic British prejudice about ‘abroad’ that it abounds with dangerous insects and creepy-crawlies.
adjective
Causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease: creepy-crawly stories...
- The creepy-crawly factor is really big - and knowing how many of those creepy-crawly things are poisonous adds to it.
- The transformation of the frequently ugly, bizarre, creepy-crawly caterpillar into an elegant butterfly is one of the regularly performed miracles of nature.
- And the strong cast make James's creepy-crawly companions more appealing than insects have any right to be.
Rhymes
- water gardening
- water gas
- watergate
- Watergater
- Watergating
- water gauge
- water-gaw
- water-geal
- water germander
- water-gilder
- water gilding
- water-gilt
- water gin
- water gladiole
- water gladiolus
- water glass
- water globe
- water glue
- water gnat
- water grass
- watergrave
- water gravy
- water grist mill
- water gruel
- water-guard