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Crawl vs Backstroke - What's the difference?

crawl | backstroke |

As verbs the difference between crawl and backstroke

is that crawl is to creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground while backstroke is to swim the backstroke.

As nouns the difference between crawl and backstroke

is that crawl is the act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops while backstroke is a swimming stroke swum lying on one's back, while rotating both arms through the water as to propel the swimmer backwards.

crawl

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) crawlen, (m), ‘to scratch, scrape’. More at (l).

Verb

(en verb)
  • To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or by dragging the body along the ground.
  • * Grew
  • A worm finds what it searches after only by feeling, as it crawls from one thing to another.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=7 citation , passage=‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’}}
  • To move forward slowly, with frequent stops.
  • To act in a servile manner.
  • * Shakespeare
  • hath crawled into the favour of the king
  • See crawl with.
  • To feel a ing sensation.
  • To swim using the crawl stroke.
  • To move over an area on hands and knees.
  • To visit while becoming inebriated.
  • To visit files or web sites in order to index them for searching.
  • Derived terms
    * crawler
    Descendants
    * German:

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of moving slowly on hands and knees etc, or with frequent stops
  • A rapid swimming stroke with alternate overarm strokes and a fluttering kick
  • (television, film) A piece of horizontally scrolling text overlaid on the main image.
  • * 22 March 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/]
  • The opening crawl (and a stirring propaganda movie) informs us that “The Hunger Games” are an annual event in Panem, a North American nation divided into 12 different districts, each in service to the Capitol, a wealthy metropolis that owes its creature comforts to an oppressive dictatorship.
    Derived terms
    * front crawl * pub crawl * urban crawl

    Etymology 2

    Compare kraal.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A pen or enclosure of stakes and hurdles for holding fish.
  • ----

    backstroke

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A swimming stroke swum lying on one's back, while rotating both arms through the water as to propel the swimmer backwards.
  • (bellringing) The pull on the tail of the rope that swings the bell through a full circle (compare handstroke)
  • Synonyms

    * back crawl

    Verb

    (backstrok)
  • To swim the backstroke.
  • See also

    * front crawl * freestyle * medley * Trudgen