grovel (verb)

См. также в других словарях:

• grovel — ► VERB (grovelled, grovelling; US groveled, groveling) 1) crouch or crawl abjectly on the ground. 2) act obsequiously to obtain forgiveness or favour. DERIVATIVES groveller noun. ORIGIN …   English terms dictionary

• grovel — verb grovelled, grovelling BrE groveled, groveling AmE (I) 1 to behave with too much respect towards someone, because you are asking them to help or forgive you: There s nothing worse than seeing a man grovel just to keep his job. 2 to lie or… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

• grovel — verb 1) George groveled at his feet, begging for mercy Syn: prostrate oneself, lie, kneel, cringe 2) she was not going to grovel to him Syn: be obsequious to, fawn on, kowtow to, bow and scrape to, toady to, truckle to …   Thesaurus of popular words

• grovel — verb a) To be prone on the ground. b) To crawl …   Wiktionary

• grovel — verb (grovels, grovelling, grovelled; US grovels, groveling, groveled) 1》 crouch or crawl abjectly on the ground. 2》 act obsequiously to obtain forgiveness or favour. Derivatives groveller noun grovelling …   English new terms dictionary

• grovel — [[t]grɒ̱v(ə)l[/t]] grovels, grovelling, grovelled (in AM, use groveling, groveled) 1) VERB (disapproval) If you say that someone grovels, you think they are behaving too respectfully towards another person, for example because they are frightened …   English dictionary

• grovel — UK [ˈɡrɒv(ə)l] / US [ˈɡrɑv(ə)l] verb [intransitive] Word forms grovel : present tense I/you/we/they grovel he/she/it grovels present participle grovelling past tense grovelled past participle grovelled showing disapproval to show too much respect …   English dictionary

• grovel — [16] Old and Middle English had a suffix ling, used for making adverbs denoting direction or condition. Few survive, and of those that do, most have had their ling changed to the more logical sounding long (headlong and sidelong, for instance,… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

• grovel — [16] Old and Middle English had a suffix ling, used for making adverbs denoting direction or condition. Few survive, and of those that do, most have had their ling changed to the more logical sounding long (headlong and sidelong, for instance,… …   Word origins

• grovel — intransitive verb ( eled or elled; eling or elling) Etymology: back formation from groveling prone, from groveling, adverb, from Middle English, from gruf, adverb, on the face (from Old Norse ā grūfu) + ling Date: 1552 1. to creep with the face… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

• grovel — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) v. fawn, creep, cringe; wallow, humble (oneself). See servility, lowness. II (Roget s IV) v. Syn. crawl, cringe, fawn, fawn upon, beg, sneak, stoop, kneel, crouch before, truckle, kowtow, implore, toady …   English dictionary for students