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Spook vs Creep - What's the difference?

spook | creep |

As a noun spook

is a spirit returning to haunt a place.

As a verb spook

is to scare or frighten.

As a proper noun creep is

(derogatory) the committee]] to re-elect the president, which raised money for [[w:richard nixon|richard nixon's campaign for 1972 reelection.

spook

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A spirit returning to haunt a place.
    • The visit to the old cemetery brought scary visions of spooks and ghosts.
  • A ghost or an apparition.
    • The building was haunted by a couple of spooks .
  • A hobgoblin.
  • (espionage) A spy.
  • * 2009 , "Spies like them", BBC News Magazine (online), 24 July 2009:
    • From Ian Fleming to John Le Carre - authors have long been fascinated by the world of espionage. But, asks the BBC’s Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies?
  • * 2012 , The Economist, Oct 13th 2012, Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold
    • The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks .
  • A scare or fright.
    • The big spider gave me a spook .
  • (dated, pejorative) A black person.

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To scare or frighten.
  • To startle or frighten an animal
    • The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran.

    Derived terms

    * spookiness * spookish * spook out * spooky

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    creep

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) crepen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
    • Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
    • One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone, watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him.
  • Of plants, to grow across a surface rather than upwards.
  • To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
    • He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.
  • To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.
    • Prices have been creeping up all year.
  • To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself.
    • Old age creeps upon us.
  • * John Locke
    • the sophistry which creeps into most of the books of argument
  • To slip, or to become slightly displaced.
    • 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.
    • a creeping sycophant
  • * Shakespeare
    • to come as humbly as they used to creep
  • To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.
    • The sight made my flesh creep .
  • To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.
    • Synonyms
    * (move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground) crawl * (grow across a surface rather than upwards) * (move slowly and quietly in a particular direction) * (make small gradual changes)
    Derived terms
    * creep up on * creepy / creepy-crawly * give someone the creeps * creep someone out

    Etymology 2

    From the above verb.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails)
  • A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
  • A slight displacement of an object: the slight movement of something
  • The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
    • Christmas creep'''. Feature '''creep'''. Instruction '''creep'''. Mission ' creep
  • (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.
  • (materials science) An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.
  • (geology) The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.
  • (informal, pejorative) An annoying irritating person
  • (informal, pejorative) A frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills or who induces psychosomatic facial itching.
    • Stop following me, you creep !
  • (agriculture) A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.
    • Derived terms
    * bracket creep * Christmas creep * feature creep * focus creep * function creep ((function creep)) * instruction creep ((instruction creep)) * mission creep ((mission creep)) * requirement creep ((requirement creep)) * scope creep * season creep

    Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs