crawler

== English == === Pronunciation === Rhymes: -ɔːlə(ɹ) === Etymology 1 === From crawl (“to move slowly, by dragging the body along the ground”) +‎ -er. ==== Noun ==== crawler (plural crawlers) A child who is able to creep using its hands and knees but is not able to walk. (sports) A crawl swimmer. A tractor crawler, a motorized vehicle that uses caterpillar tracks instead of wheels. (Internet) A software bot that autonomously follows connected paths such as links between web pages. Synonym: spider A mobile stage in the development of stationary hemipteran insects such as scale insects—generally the first instar. (UK, slang, obsolete) A cab that is driven slowly along while its driver looks out for a fare. Synonym of crawler crane. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From crawl (“to act in a servile manner”) +‎ -er. From the Australian convict period (1788–1850); a prisoner who was purposely and extensively abused by an overseer (also a convict) and thereby driven to escape but who, finding it impossible to survive in the Australian bush, surrenders to this overseer, who would then have his penal term reduced. The particular crawler was picked for his weak personality and might escape and return a number of times increasing his own penal term each time. According to James Tucker, some convict overseers had their sentences extensively reduced using this odious practice. ==== Noun ==== crawler (plural crawlers) (Australia, obsolete) A person who is abused, physically or verbally, and returns to the abuser a supplicant. (UK, Australia, slang) A sycophant. ===== Translations ===== === References === === Anagrams === recrawl == French == === Etymology === From crawl +‎ -er. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /kʁo.le/ === Verb === crawler (ambitransitive) to swim using the crawl stroke (ambitransitive, Internet) to spider ==== Conjugation ==== === Further reading === “crawler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012