grovel

grovel vi.

1. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often used transitively with `over' or `through'. "The file scavenger has been groveling through the /usr directories for 10 minutes now." Compare grind and crunch. Emphatic form: `grovel obscenely'. 2. To examine minutely or in complete detail. "The compiler grovels over the entire source program before beginning to translate it." "I grovelled through all the documentation, but I still couldn't find the command I wanted."

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

Grov"el (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Groveled (?) or Grovelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Groveling or Grovelling.] [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. gr&umac;fa, in &amac; gr&umac;fu on the face, prone, gr&umac;fa 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.

© Webster 1913.