GROVEL

fawn, crawl, creep, cringe, cower, grovel

(verb) show submission or fear

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

grovel (third-person singular simple present grovels, present participle (US) groveling or (UK) grovelling, simple past and past participle (US) groveled or (UK) grovelled)

(intransitive) To be prone on the ground.

(intransitive) To crawl.

(intransitive) To abase oneself before another person.

(intransitive) To be slavishly nice to someone or apologize in the hope of securing something.

(intransitive) To take pleasure in mundane activities.

Anagrams

• Glover, Vogler, glover

Source: Wiktionary


Grov"el, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Groveled or Grovelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Groveling or Grovelling.] Etym: [From OE. grovelinge, grufelinge, adv., on the face, prone, which was misunderstood as a p. pr.; cf. OE. gruf, groff, in the same sense; of Scand. origin, cf. Icel. grufa, in a grufu on the face, prone, grufa to grovel.]

1. 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 fiat on one's belly, expressive of abjectness; to crawl. To creep and grovel on the ground. Dryden.

2. To tend toward, or delight in, what is sensual or base; to be low, abject, or mean.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

17 June 2025

RECREANT

(adjective) having deserted a cause or principle; “some provinces had proved recreant”; “renegade supporters of the usurper”


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Coffee Trivia

The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.

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