creep

Plural: creeps

Noun

someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric
a slow longitudinal movement or deformation
a pen that is fenced so that young animals can enter but adults cannot
a slow mode of locomotion on hands and knees or dragging the body
- "the traffic moved at a creep"
The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).
A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.
The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.
An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.
The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.
Someone creepy (annoyingly unpleasant), especially one who is strange or eccentric.
A person who engages in sexually inappropriate behaviour or sexual harassment.
A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.

Verb

Verb Forms: crept, creeping, creeps

To move slowly and carefully, especially to avoid notice.
move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
to go stealthily or furtively
grow or spread, often in such a way as to cover (a surface)
show submission or fear
To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
To grow across a surface rather than upwards.
To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.
To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself.
To slip, or to become slightly displaced.
To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.
To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.
To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.
To covertly have sex (with a person other than one's primary partner); to cheat with.

Examples

A creeping sycophant.
Christmas creep
feature creep
He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.
instruction creep
Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.
mission creep
My score will creep past yours with this next move.
Old age creeps upon us.
Prices have been creeping up all year.
The collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying.
The quicksilver on a mirror may creep.
The sight made my flesh creep.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *kreupan, from Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to twist, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with West Frisian krippe, krûpe, West Frisian crjippa (“to creep”), Low German krepen and krupen, Dutch kruipen (“to creep, crawl”), Middle High German kriefen (“to creep”), Danish krybe (“to creep”), Norwegian krype (“to creep”), Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”), Icelandic krjúpa (“to stoop”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *kreupaną
Proto-West Germanic *kreupan
Old English crēopan
Middle English crepen
English creep

Synonyms

cower, crawl, crawling, creeping, cringe, fawn, grovel, mouse, pussyfoot, sneak, spook, weirdie, weirdo, weirdy, creepazoid#Noun, creeper, creepoid#Noun, perv, pervert

Scrabble Score: 9

creep: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
creep: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
creep: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

creep: valid Words With Friends Word