Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To behave in a servile or obsequious manner.
- intransitive verb To lie or creep in a prostrate position, as in subservience or humility.
- intransitive verb To give oneself over to base pleasures.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To creep or crawl on the earth, or with the face and body bent to the ground; lie prone, or move with the body prostrate on the earth; especially, to lie prostrate in abject humility, fear, etc.
- Hence To have a tendency toward or take pleasure in low or base things; be low, abject, or mean; be morally depraved.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move uneasily with the body prostrate on the earth; to lie flat on one's belly, expressive of abjectness; to crawl.
- intransitive verb To tend toward, or delight in, what is sensual or base; to be low, abject, or mean.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To be
prone on the ground. - verb To
crawl - verb To
abase oneself before another person. - verb To be nice to someone or apologize in the hope of securing something.
- verb To take pleasure in
mundane activities.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb show submission or fear
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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If the rulers of other countries want to grovel, that is their privilege, but I don't want my country groveling before anyone.
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If the rulers of other countries want to grovel, that is their privilege, but I don't want my country groveling before anyone.
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If the rulers of other countries want to grovel, that is their privilege, but I don't want my country groveling before anyone.
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If the rulers of other countries want to grovel, that is their privilege, but I don't want my country groveling before anyone.
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The fact is he doesn't have to 'grovel' to anyone.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2008
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Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006 @ 6: 26 p.m. Hmmm, I haven't seen Not-Green-Eyed-Guy since he contacted me to "grovel".
madrigle Diary Entry madrigle 2006
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It is pretty hard to hold a "grovel" several stones heavier for over an hour, and this year even Armour was a little doubtful about the lightness of his side.
The Loom of Youth Alec Waugh 1939
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Jeffries was ubiquitous; he led the "grovel" (as the scrum was called at Fernhurst), and kept it together.
The Loom of Youth Alec Waugh 1939
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The same threat would apply to ambassadors from other nations that treat Israel similarly, he added - echoing the attitude of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has instructed Israeli diplomats not to "grovel" before their host countries.
The Seattle Times 2010
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The same threat would apply to ambassadors from other nations that treat Israel similarly, he added -- echoing the attitude of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has instructed Israeli diplomats not to "grovel" before their host countries.
yarb commented on the word grovel
In ornithological days, at the observatory, we used, not infrequently, to discover moribund specimends. They seemed always to have grovelled into some niche to quietly get on with it...
- Peter Reading, C, 1984
July 4, 2008
qroqqa commented on the word grovel
Back-formation from grovelling.
July 2, 2010