Creeping
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
Example sentence: Ever since the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, the Muslim world has been in slow decline relative to the west. With Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and the creeping British annexation of Muslim India, that decline took on a malign aspect.
Creep
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.Of plants, 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.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: 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 somethingIn 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.An annoying irritating personA frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills or who induces psychosomatic facial itching.A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.
Example sentence: I do not yet know why plants come out of the land or float in streams, or creep on rocks or roll from the sea. I am entranced by the mystery of them, and absorbed by their variety and kinds. Everywhere they are visible yet everywhere occult.