different between crawl vs prowl

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: krôl, IPA^(key): /k???l/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: kräl, IPA^(key): /k??l/
• Rhymes: -??l

Etymology 1

From Middle English crawlen, creulen, *cravelen, from Old Norse krafla (compare Danish kravle (“to crawl, creep”), Swedish kravla), from Proto-Germanic *krabl?n? (compare Dutch krabbelen, Low German krabbeln, Middle High German krappeln), frequentative of *krabb?n? (“to scratch, scrape”). More at crab.

Verb

crawl (third-person singular simple present crawls, present participle crawling, simple past and past participle crawled)

1. (intransitive) To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground.
   • 1701, Nehemiah Grew, Cosmologia Sacra

     A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling, as it crawls from one thing to another.

2. (intransitive) To move forward slowly, with frequent stops.

3. (intransitive) To act in a servile manner.
4. (intransitive, with "with") See crawl with.
5. (intransitive) To feel a swarming sensation.

6. (intransitive) To swim using the crawl stroke.

7. (transitive) To move over an area on hands and knees.

8. (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)(intransitive) To visit while becoming inebriated.

9. (transitive) To visit files or web sites in order to index them for searching.

Derived terms

• crawler

Descendants

• German: kraulen

Translations

Noun

crawl (plural crawls)

1. The act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops.
2. A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick.
3. (figuratively) A very slow pace.

   My computer has slowed down to a crawl since I installed that software package.

4. (television, film) A piece of horizontally or vertically scrolling text overlaid on the main image.
   • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[2]

     The opening crawl (and a stirring propaganda movie) informs us that “The Hunger Games” are an annual event in Panem, a North American nation divided into 12 different districts, each in service to the Capitol, a wealthy metropolis that owes its creature comforts to an oppressive dictatorship.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: crol, crawl

Translations

Etymology 2

Compare kraal.

Noun

crawl (plural crawls)

1. A pen or enclosure of stakes and hurdles for holding fish.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English crawl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?ol/

Noun

crawl m (plural crawls)

1. crawl (swimming stroke)

Further reading

• “crawl” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English crawl.

Noun

crawl m (plural crawl)

1. crawl (swimming stroke)

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English crawl.

Noun

crawl m (uncountable)

1. (proscribed) Alternative spelling of crol

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English crawl.

Noun

crawl c (uncountable)

1. crawl; swimming stroke

Declension

Related terms

• crawla

English

Etymology

From Middle English prollen, of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?a?l/

Verb

prowl (third-person singular simple present prowls, present participle prowling, simple past and past participle prowled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.

   • He prowls each place, still in new colours decked.

   Watch the lioness prowling in the shrubbery for zebras.

   It's tough to sneak vandalism into Wikipedia as there are plenty of other users prowling the Recent Changes page.
2. (intransitive) To idle; to go about aimlessly.

   That dandy has nothing better to do than prowl around town all day in his pinstripe suit.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To collect by plunder.

   to prowl money

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

prowl (plural prowls)

1. (colloquial) The act of prowling.

   I'm going on a midnight prowl.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Smart to this entry?)