Creep vs. Creeper — What's the Difference?

Move slowly and carefully in order to avoid being heard or noticed

One that moves or progresses by creeping.

(of a negative characteristic or fact) occur or develop gradually and almost imperceptibly

(Botany) A plant that spreads by means of stems that creep.

A detestable person

See cradle.

Slow steady movement, especially when imperceptible

A grappling device for dragging bodies of water, such as lakes or rivers.

An opening in a hedge or wall for an animal to pass through

A one-piece fitted garment for an infant.

Solid food given to young farm animals in order to wean them

Creepers A metal frame with a spike or spikes, attached to a shoe or boot to prevent slipping, especially on ice.

To move with the body close to the ground, as on hands and knees.

(Slang) A person who is a creep, especially one who is considered to be unsettling.

To move stealthily or cautiously.

A person or a thing that crawls or creeps.

To move or proceed very slowly

A one-piece garment for infants designed to facilitate access to the wearer's diaper.

To grow or spread along a surface, rooting at intervals or clinging by means of suckers or tendrils.

A device which allows a small child to safely roam around a room from a seated or standing position.

To grow horizontally under the ground, as the rhizomes of many plants.

A metal plate with spikes, designed to be worn with shoes to prevent slipping.

To slip out of place; shift gradually.

A spur-like device strapped to the boot to facilitate climbing.

To have a tingling sensation, made by or as if by things moving stealthily

A small low iron, or dog, between the andirons.

The act of creeping; a creeping motion or progress.

An instrument with iron hooks or claws for dredging up items from a well or other water.

(Slang) An annoyingly unpleasant, unsettling, or repulsive person.

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.

A slow flow of metal when under high temperature or great pressure.

Any plant (as ivy or periwinkle) that grows by creeping, especially a climbing plant of the genus Parthenocissus.

A slow change in a characteristic of electronic equipment, such as a decrease in power with continued usage.

A treecreeper.

A usually unplanned and gradual shift or increase in uses or objectives away from what was originally specified or limited. Often used in combination

Strophitus undulatus, a freshwater mussel of the eastern United States.

(Geology) The slow movement of rock debris and soil down a weathered slope.

(nautical) A small four-hooked grapnel used to recover objects dropped onto the sea bed.

Creeps Informal A sensation of fear or repugnance, as if things were crawling on one's skin

The lowest gear of a tractor or truck.

(intransitive) To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.

A low-profile wheeled platform whereupon an auto mechanic may lie on their back and gain better access to the underbody of a vehicle.

To grow across a surface rather than upwards.

A person who creeps people out; a creepy person.

(intransitive) To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.

A kind of shoe, usually with a suede upper and a thick crepe sole, associated with various 20th-century subcultures.

(intransitive) To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.

(cricket) A ball that travels low, near ground level.

To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself.

One who, or that which, creeps; any creeping thing.

To slip, or to become slightly displaced.

A plant that clings by rootlets, or by tendrils, to the ground, or to trees, etc.; as, the Virginia creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia).

To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.

A small bird of the genus Certhia, allied to the wrens. The brown or common European creeper is Certhia familiaris, a variety of which (var. Americana) inhabits America; - called also tree creeper and creeptree. The American black and white creeper is Mniotilta varia.

To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.

A kind of patten mounted on short pieces of iron instead of rings; also, a fixture with iron points worn on a shoe to prevent one from slipping.

To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.

A spurlike device strapped to the boot, which enables one to climb a tree or pole; - called often telegraph creepers.

To covertly have sex (with a person other than one's primary partner); to cheat with.

A small, low iron, or dog, between the andirons.

The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).

An instrument with iron hooks or claws for dragging at the bottom of a well, or any other body of water, and bringing up what may lie there.

A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.

Any device for causing material to move steadily from one part of a machine to another, as an apron in a carding machine, or an inner spiral in a grain screen.

A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.

Crockets. See Crocket.

(uncountable) The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.

Any plant (as ivy or periwinkle) that grows by creeping

(publishing) In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.

A person who crawls or creeps along the ground

(materials science) An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.

Any of various small insectivorous birds of the northern hemisphere that climb about on trees

(geology) The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.

Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric.

A frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills.

(agriculture) A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.

To move along the ground, or on any other surface, on the belly, as a worm or reptile; to move as a child on the hands and knees; to crawl.

To move slowly, feebly, or timorously, as from unwillingness, fear, or weakness.

To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or one's self; as, age creeps upon us.

To slip, or to become slightly displaced; as, the collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying; the quicksilver on a mirror may creep.

To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn; as, a creeping sycophant.

To grow, as a vine, clinging to the ground or to some other support by means of roots or rootlets, or by tendrils, along its length.

To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.

The act or process of creeping.

A distressing sensation, or sound, like that occasioned by the creeping of insects.

A slow rising of the floor of a gallery, occasioned by the pressure of incumbent strata upon the pillars or sides; a gradual movement of mining ground.

Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric

A slow longitudinal movement or deformation

A pen that is fenced so that young animals can enter but adults cannot

A slow creeping mode of locomotion (on hands and knees or dragging the body);

Move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground;

To go stealthily or furtively;

Grow in such a way as to cover (a building, for example);

Show submission or fear