different between slow vs crawl

English

Etymology

From Middle English slow, slaw, from Old English sl?w (“sluggish, inert, slothful, late, tardy, torpid, slow”), from Proto-Germanic *slaiwaz (“blunt, dull, faint, weak, slack”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“limp”). Cognate with Scots slaw (“slow”), Dutch sleeuw (“blunt, dull”), Low German slee (“dull, sluggish”), German schlehe, schleh (“dull, exhausted, faint”), Danish sløv (“dull, torpid, drowsy”), Swedish slö (“slack, lazy”), Icelandic sljór (“dim-witted, slow”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sl??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /slo?/
• Rhymes: -??

Adjective

slow (comparative slower, superlative slowest)

1. Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.

2. Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost

     These changes in the heavens, though slow, produced / Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast.
3. Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
   • 1960, Dissertation Abstracts (volume 20, page 4007)

     Experienced classroom teachers are well acquainted with the attention-seeker, the shy girl, the aggressive boy, the poor concentrator, the slow student […]

4. Not hasty; not tending to hurry; acting with deliberation or caution.
   • 1999, Brian Paul Kaufman, K. Winston Caine, Prayer, Faith, and Healing: Cure Your Body, Heal Your Mind and Restore Your Soul

     And even after the emotional cast comes off, we need to be slow about getting deeply involved in a relationship again

   • 1611, King James Bible, Proverbs xiv 29

     He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding.

5. (of a clock or the like) Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time.

6. Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
7. (of a period of time) Not busy; lacking activity.

Synonyms

• (taking a long time to move a short distance): deliberate; moderate; see also Thesaurus:slow
• (not happening in a short time): gradual; see also Thesaurus:gradual
• (of reduced intellectual capacity): dull-witted; see also Thesaurus:stupid
• (acting with deliberation): careful, deliberate, prudent; see also Thesaurus:cautious
• (behind in time):
• (lacking spirit): boring, dilatory, dull, inactive, tardy, slothful, sluggish; see also Thesaurus:inactive or Thesaurus:boring
• (not busy): quiet, unbusy

Antonyms

• (taking a long time to move a short distance): fast, quick, rapid, swift; see also Thesaurus:speedy
• (not happening in a short time): abrupt, sudden; see also Thesaurus:sudden
• (of reduced intellectual capacity): keen, quick, quick-witted; see also Thesaurus:intelligent
• (acting with deliberation): hasty, precipitate, prompt; see also Thesaurus:prompt
• (behind in time): accurate, fast
• (lacking spirit): brisk, lively; see also Thesaurus:active
• (not busy): hectic

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

slow (third-person singular simple present slows, present participle slowing, simple past and past participle slowed)

1. (transitive) To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of.

2. (transitive) To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of.

3. (intransitive) To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.

   • After about a minute, the creek bed vomited the debris into a gently sloped meadow. Saugstad felt the snow slow and tried to keep her hands in front of her.

Synonyms

• (keep from going quickly): delay, hinder, retard
• (become slow): decelerate, slacken

Derived terms

• slower
• slow up
• slow down

Translations

Noun

slow (plural slows)

1. Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
2. (music) A slow song.

Adverb

slow (comparative slower, superlative slowest)

1. Slowly.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece

     Let him have time to mark how slow time goes / In time of sorrow.

Anagrams

• Lows, OWLs, lows, owls, sowl

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English slow.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slo/

Noun

slow m (plural slows)

1. slow waltz

See also

• quick

Further reading

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

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [slow]

Noun

slow

1. genitive of sl?

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