Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Developing gradually over a period of time.
  • adjective Botany Having stems that creep along the ground and root at intervals.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Stalking or still-hunting, as for moose or deer.
  • noun Motion of the rails of a railroad in the direction of traffic, due to a number of causes.
  • noun The slip of a belt or rope which is driving one pulley from another: due to working or elasticity in the belt or rope.
  • noun In electricity, the slow drifting or moving of an instrument or meter at no load, due to inaccurate adjustment or to a slow change of the suspension.
  • noun In geology, same as creep, 5.
  • noun In submarine work, the act of dragging with creepers or grapnels to recover a lost object.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Crawling, or moving close to the ground.
  • adjective Growing along, and clinging to, the ground, or to a wall, etc., by means of rootlets or tendrils.
  • adjective (Bot.) a plant, the Ranunculus repens.
  • adjective an American plant (Chiogenes hispidula) with white berries and very small round leaves having the flavor of wintergreen.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of creep.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

creep +‎ -ing

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Examples

  • “The flooding in Africa just now is the worst anyone can remember,” Sir John said, expressing frustration at how little media attention in the west was being devoted to what he terms creeping climatic catastrophe.

    Unthreaded #21 « Climate Audit 2007

  • Q Anatoly Kulikov, the Interior Minister's, charge that Lebed was engaged in what he called creeping coup plots.

    Briefing By Mccurry Sosnik And Lockhart ITY National Archives 1996

  • Nations should deploy more observers immediately to prevent what he described as a creeping takeover of UNITA-held towns by government troops.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • But Ivanhoe has proposed a plan - which has been approved by a majority of its other shareholders - to protect the company against what it called creeping takeovers by preventing any one investor from slowly building up a majority stake.

    Blogposts | guardian.co.uk 2010

  • The Russian government has repeatedly stressed its opposition to what it calls the creeping of Nato into what Moscow deems its traditional sphere of influence.

    AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE) 2009

  • The Russian government has repeatedly stressed its opposition to what it calls the creeping of Nato into what Moscow deems its traditional sphere of influence.

    AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE) 2009

  • OTTAWA – Anti-Semitism is creeping from the shadows into the mainstream and even onto university campuses, a parliamentary committee heard Monday.

    Archive 2009-11-01 2009

  • Blairy beasts are creeping from the night to wards the camp fire and behind dangerously glittering eyes fatty Falconer has started muttering about the lack of a vision.

    Burn Them With Ice Newmania 2007

  • Blairy beasts are creeping from the night to wards the camp fire and behind dangerously glittering eyes fatty Falconer has started muttering about the lack of a vision.

    Archive 2007-10-14 Newmania 2007

  • While L. and Aliette wait to begin their first lesson the next day, the mysterious illness is creeping from the sleepy Spanish tourist town of San Sebastián.

    L. Debard and Aliette 2006

Comments

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  • When you watch for

    Feather or fur

    Feather or fur

    Do not stir

    Do not stir.

    Feather or fur

    Come crawling

    Creeping

    Some come peeping

    Some by night

    And some by day.

    Most come gently

    All come softly

    Do not scare

    A friend away.

    - John Becker, 'Feather or Fur'.

    November 8, 2008