creeper
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English crepere, from Old English crēopere, equivalent to creep + -er. Slang usage derived from phrase give the creeps or creep out (distinct from merely one who creeps).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]creeper (plural creepers)
- A person or a thing that crawls or creeps.
- Synonym: crawler
- 1638 [1621], Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy[1], page 71:
- Standing Waters […] are most unwholesome, putrified, and full of mites, creepers, slimy, muddy, uncleane, corrupt, impure, by reason of the Suns heat, and still standing;
- 2020 May 7, Katie Rife, “If you’re looking to jump in your seat, make a playdate with Z”, in The Onion AV Club[2], archived from the original on 16 May 2020:
- With his presence marked by shots of children’s toys overlaid with ominous music, Z is more of a creeper than a reaper—until a shocking, sudden moment midway through the film.
- Any creeping animal (such as a serpent), reptile.
- (often in the plural) A one-piece garment for infants designed to facilitate access to the wearer's diaper.
- Synonyms: babygro, creepers, diaper shirt, infant bodysuit, onesie, snapsuit
- A device which allows a small child to safely roam around a room from a seated or standing position.
- A metal plate with spikes, designed to be worn with shoes to prevent slipping.
- A spur-like device strapped to the boot to facilitate climbing.
- (chiefly in the plural) A small low iron, or dog, between the andirons.
- An instrument with iron hooks or claws for dredging up items from a well or other water.
- Any device for causing material to move steadily from one part of a machine to another, such as an apron in a carding machine, or an inner spiral in a grain screen.
- Any plant (as ivy or periwinkle) that grows by creeping, especially a climbing plant of the genus Parthenocissus.
- Synonym: climber
- 1964, William Golding, Lord of the Flies:
- Then the piglet tore loose from the creepers and scurried into the undergrowth.
- A treecreeper.
- Strophitus undulatus, a freshwater mussel of the eastern United States.
- (nautical) A small four-hooked grapnel used to recover objects dropped onto the sea bed.
- The lowest gear of some tractors or trucks: one with so low a gear ratio that the vehicle creeps along at the speed of a human's slow walk.
- Synonyms: creeper gear, creeper shift
- Throwing it in creeper and then getting out to work alongside is strictly forbidden because it is too dangerous if anything goes wrong.
- A low-profile wheeled platform whereupon an auto mechanic may lie on their back and gain better access to the underbody of a vehicle; a low stool similarly wheeled.
- Synonym: (lie-down type) cradle
- If my phone rings while I'm on a creeper underneath the car with oil on my hands, well, the caller will just have to leave a voicemail.
- (derogatory, slang) A person who creeps people out; a creepy person.
- Synonyms: creep, creepazoid, creepoid
- Don't go to a nightclub to find a boyfriend. They're all creepers there.
- A kind of shoe, usually with a suede upper and a thick crepe sole, associated with various 20th-century subcultures.
- (cricket) A ball that travels low, near ground level.
- 2009, Steven Lynch, Wisden on the Ashes, page 292:
- May joined Hutton and proceeded to play masterly cricket in which the straight-drive predominated. There was always the possibility that he might be trapped by a creeper, but May watched the ball intently.
Derived terms
[edit]- (shoe): brothel creeper
- (plant): Virginia creeper
other derived terms
Translations
[edit]person or thing that creeps
|
animal
one-piece garment for infants
device for children
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plant
|
treecreeper — see treecreeper
grapnel
lowest gear
|
wheeled platform
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)
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- Rhymes:English/iːpə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/iːpə(ɹ)/2 syllables
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- en:Nautical
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- en:Grape family plants
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