1no object (of a person) move forward on the hands and knees or by dragging the body close to the ground.

他们从桌子底下爬了出来。

1. 1.1 (of an insect or small animal) move slowly along a surface.
   （昆虫或小动物）爬动
   the tiny spider was crawling up Nicky's arm

   那小蜘蛛在尼克的胳膊上向上爬着。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The juxtaposition of pristine glass structures and the grimy creatures crawling at their feet makes for an interesting visual contrast.
   • When she looked at the floor more closely, she noticed a herd of tiny lizards crawling across its surface.
   • There were many times when snakes passed by and centipedes crawled up the tent.
   • The insects are crawling all over each other, searching for escape.
   • The knight rode ahead of him calm and self-contained, but Kieran felt as though insects were crawling under the surface of his skin.
   • So, aside from flies, he had no qualms about letting insects crawl all over him.
   • The insects crawled along on their bellies, their legs wrapped around the steel.
   • It's about rats crawling up a drainpipe or something.
   • I currently have at least 6 species of insect larva crawling around the front yard, and I just checked.
   • I picked up the flower and looked at it closely; the petals were white but the inside of it was pink and a tiny black beetle was crawling around.
   • Willis turned to the south to see a small spidery-like creature crawling about, heading straight for him.
   • The creature slowly crawled into the clearing and snuck over to Oki's side.
   • She looked at the floor, and an ant was slowly crawling past.
   • It was just too much, I could feel the insects crawling on my skin.
   • We saw tarantulas and spiders and bugs crawling all over the place!
   • I watched as a tiny little puppy crawled out from under the bed.
   • He looked with compassion at the creatures crawling over the hollow log.
   • White winged insects crawled on the glass and slowly buzzed away.
   • A pale green light shrouded the scenery, above a canopy thrived and animals and birds crawled and flew through the treetops.
   • She glanced down to find a kitten crawling up on her boot.
2. 1.2 (of a vehicle) move at an unusually slow pace.
   （车辆）缓慢行进
   the traffic was crawling along

   车辆像爬一样向前行进着。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Nine lanes of constant traffic come crawling past every day.
   • Walking is better than crawling in slow traffic, wasting fuel and adding to air pollution.
   • The car crawled at 11 miles per hour, as excited onlookers cheered the smiling President and his glamorous wife.
   • Hundreds of cars were crawling up and down the aisles and it looked as if there wasn't going to be a single empty spot.
   • A roadside survey last month found that on some streets, traffic crawls at less than 2mph.
   • As your boat crawls around its coast you will see the breathtaking cliffs in all their vivid colours.
   • Some motorists who contacted the Daily Dispatch said they had to wait up to an hour in the scorching heat, as the queue of vehicles crawled through the town.
   • About half hour from there, the bus crawled to a stop again, for another tire change.
   • He said hundreds of commuters already arrive late each day after sitting in buses crawling through rush-hour jams.
   • After all, when traffic is crawling, at least nobody's going over the speed limit, which is the only traffic law that the cops seem to care about.
   • A few days later our bus is crawling along while we stew in exhaust fumes.
   • The result is a road and street system on which the city's five million vehicles crawl.
   • When I looked out of the window, there were three or four blokes going from door-to-door whilst an unmarked transit van crawled along behind them.
   • Cars were slowly crawling down the street, occasionally beeping at each other.
   • The streets of South London were unusually dark as our bus crawled through a rainy Clapham and Brixton.
   • I join the traffic crawling on the 405 and we inch our way south.
   • On a lonely dirt road, a truck crawls along through the dark.
   • Every week almost a million cars crawl over the Jacques Cartier Bridge alone.
   • An hour later, as the bus finally crawled its way out of that horrible traffic jam, it managed to reach the train stop.
   • He sat down beside her and looked at the constant stream of slow-moving vehicles crawling along to the junction with the street.
3. 1.3 Swim using the crawl.
   用爬式（或自由式）游泳
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The result may have been a remarkably smooth motion, like the crawl performed by an expert swimmer.
4. 1.4technical (of paint or other liquid) move after application to form an uneven layer over the surface below.
   〈技〉（油漆或其他液体）皱缩，起块
   glazes can crawl away from a crack in the piece

   釉料可能会在作品的裂缝处起皱。

2informal no object Behave obsequiously or ingratiatingly in the hope of gaining someone's favor.

3be crawling withBe covered or crowded with insects or people, to an extent that is disgusting or objectionable.

那个地方到处是士兵。

4Computing
with object (of a program) systematically visit (a number of web pages) in order to create an index of data.

1An act of moving on one's hands and knees or dragging one's body along the ground.

他们开始爬回他们自己的营地。

1. 1.1 A slow rate of movement, typically that of a vehicle.
   （常指车辆的）缓慢行进
   he reduced his speed to a crawl

   他将速度降至极低。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • She slowed her pace passing by the streams of people, eventually slowing to a crawl with the masses of people.
   • Dozens of roadblocks force you to slow to a crawl, you wave your summit badge, they ask you where you're from to judge just how bad your French is and then wave you on.
   • He said the road did not look particularly dangerous but jams were caused when motorist slowed down to a crawl because of the icy conditions.
   • Add a multi-car accident and traffic quickly slows to a crawl.
   • As it turned out, life inside the car was not all it was cracked up to be either - especially when traffic on the freeway slowed to a crawl.
   • One weekend, there was a half-hour crawl along Didsbury Road to get to the car park and it took 20 minutes to get off it.
   • If you live in London, Manchester or any of our big cities a daily crawl is absolutely normal and I remember a daily journey of at least one hour - for ever.
   • However, it does not matter how powerful a tug is pulling it, the barge will never move at more than a crawl, even when moving down-river empty.
   • Everyone was going at a crawl and occasionally, when an opening arose, I would advance a little further by going either left or right of the car in front of me.
   • In many episodes, the animation slows to a crawl, or even freezes altogether into a static image.
   • We slowed to a crawl about three miles or so out of Morrisville and even came to a brief stop for a minute.
   • If every laptop user is downloading from the network at this speed, the servers will slow to a crawl.
   • A mile before the city limit marker, the traffic slowed to a crawl.
   • In the afternoon, we slowed to a crawl and then stopped.
   • He falls into a slow crawl so he can observe how they mate without disturbing them.
   • After a long, slow back breaking crawl, he caught up with the others.
   • I was forced to slow down to a crawl and pay special attention to everything going on around me.
   • Unfortunately, although the road is clear of other traffic, the bus can't reroute when it runs into a Utah snowstorm and slows to a crawl.
   • First-up, most companies that needed websites already have one now so the initial rush to the web has slowed to a crawl.
   • After the observation mile it was a straight run home, only if the truth be told it was more of a crawl than anything else.

2A swimming stroke involving alternate overarm movements and rapid kicks of the legs.

3A strip or band running across the bottom of a computer or television screen, within which news headlines, public service announcements, and advertisements are continuously scrolled.