creep

[[t]kri͟ːp[/t]]

creeps, creeping, crept

1) VERB When people or animals creep somewhere, they move quietly and slowly.

[V adv/prep] Back I go to the hotel and creep up to my room...

[V adv/prep] The rabbit creeps away and hides in a hole.

2) VERB If something creeps somewhere, it moves very slowly.

[V adv/prep] Mist had crept in again from the sea.

3) VERB If something creeps in or creeps back, it begins to occur or becomes part of something without people realizing or without them wanting it.

[V in] Insecurity might creep in...

[V into n] An increasing ratio of mistakes, perhaps induced by tiredness, crept into her game.

[V adv/prep] ...a proposal that crept through unnoticed at the National Council in December...

[V adv/prep] Now his other major works are creeping back into concert programmes...

[V-ing] Their organisation has been subjected to creeping privatisation since 1981.

4) VERB If a rate or number creeps up to a higher level, it gradually reaches that level.

[V up to n] The inflation rate has been creeping up to 9.5 per cent...

[V up] The average number of students in each class is creeping up from three to four. [Also V adj-compar]

5) N-COUNT (disapproval) If you describe someone as a creep, you mean that you dislike them a great deal, especially because they are insincere and flatter people. [INFORMAL]

6) PHRASE: V inflects If someone or something gives you the creeps, they make you feel very nervous or frightened. [INFORMAL]

I always hated that statue. It gave me the creeps.

7) to make someone's flesh creep → see flesh

Phrasal Verbs:

- creep up on