Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) to leave quietly, stealthily.

1885

O. Wister diary 18 July in Wister Owen Wister Out West (1958) 35: The would-be squatters have crawled.

2. (US) to mount a horse; thus crawl off v., to dismount.

1893		Remington in Harper’s Mag. Dec. 75/1: Anything and everything is his work, from the negotiation for the sale of five thousand head of cattle to the ‘busting’ of a bronco, which no one else can ‘crawl’ [DA].
1936		R.F. Adams Cowboy Lingo 18: No rider ever approached a rancher’s dwelling [...] without receiving such invitations as, ‘Light an’ line yo’ flue with chuck,’ ‘Crawl off an’ feed yo’ tapeworm’.
1955		Great Bend Trib. (KS) 2 July 3/1: If you’ve ever been told to ‘crawl off and feed yo’ tape-worm’ you know what it’s like to visit an old-time western ranch.

3. to assault.

1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Jess’ in Sandburrs 20: A gent don’t have to have no reason for crawling you.
1905		DN III 76: Crawl, [...] to whip. [...] The professor crawled him for cutting recitations.
1925		G.H. Mullin Adventures of a Scholar Tramp 126: He kick’d me one day, and I crawls ’im.
1940		Davis & Dollard Children of Bondage 271: ‘[M]y mamma is pure hell. She’ll crawl (fight) anybody any time’.
1960		in DARE.
1979		T. Wolfe Right Stuff 65: Don’t cross that line or I’ll crawl you.

4. to spend a night moving from one nightclub, bar or public house to the next, thus crawling n. [abbr. SE pub-crawl]; thus extended to other preoccupations.

[1914		‘Bartimeus’ ‘Farewell and Adieu!’ in Naval Occasions 144: And I’ve heard her talking like a Mother to a rorty Midshipman – a silly young ass who was drinking like a fish and wasting his money and health pub-crawling].
[1945		E. Wilson I Am Gazing Into My 8-Ball 33: One night I pub-crawled for about six hours with Carole Landis who, I’d read, had the prettiest legs and the champion chest of Hollywood ].
1959		Swinging Syllables n.p.: Crawling – Nightclubbing, moving from hole to hole.
1978		S. Murray Legionnaire 124: I went into town, crawled around the bars and bordels, and crawled home—not a wiser man!
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 215: We normally started local, crawled our way into town, then went with the flow.
2024		I. Prim Bluesky profile 🌐 Music librarian. Churchcrawling, art, stained glass, Baroque music, manuscripts, ships.

5. (US, also do the crawl) to have sexual intercourse.

1929		Williams & Spivey ‘Furniture Man Blues’ 🎵 [Spivey:] Furniture man, won’t you crawl around here after dark? / [Johnson:] If I crawl around mama, will you let me park?
1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 341: Whoops, Whoops! Whoops, my dear! / Can you tell me if she’s queer? / Would she learn to do the crawl? / Would she go to balls and all? / Would she dance the can-can-can / For her great big strong he-man?
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 899: Why didn’t you pray last night while you were crawling that barrel of whores?
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 192: You ain’t never gave no dark-skinned boy a tumble, got to be real light to crawl up on you.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.

6. (US und.) to search, to ransack.

1984

J. Ellroy Because the Night 246: ‘All the houses on this block have been crawled [...] Sometimes the guy steals, sometimes not’.