Literary notes about creep (AI summary)
The word "creep" is often employed to evoke a sense of gradual, sometimes furtive motion that blurs the boundary between physical movement and emotional infiltration. In literature, it can describe the quiet, almost imperceptible action of a snake sliding by or a character surreptitiously escaping notice, as seen when someone must "creep under his gaberdine" to find shelter [1] [2]. Equally, it captures the way feelings—such as dread or regret—can slowly permeate one’s mind, creeping into the heart with an almost palpable inevitability [3] [4]. Moreover, authors use the term to portray behavior that is both cunning and insidious, whether referring to an unbidden intrusion into personal space or the subtle advance of time and decay [5] [6].
- Then he made a hole in the breast of the doll, took a black snake a yard long from the basket, and made it creep through.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - The great gate, fronting to the north, was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift - No sooner had I spoken these words, than I felt an icy chill creep to my heart.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - Then regret began to creep in, but he put that aside and broke out again in protestations.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - ‘ You have come fast, considering!’ retorted Quilp; ‘you creep, you dog, you crawl, you measure distance like a worm.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - "A great deal," said he; "I will creep into the pastor's room through the iron bars, and will reach out to you whatever you want to have."
— from Grimm's Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
