grovel

English

Etymology

From Middle English *grovelen, from Old Norse grufla, grœfla (“to grovel”), from Proto-Germanic *grubilōną (“to dig, delve into”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ‑ (“to dig, scrape, scrabble, scratch”); akin to Old Norse á grufu (“on one's belly”) ( > Old Norse grúfa (“to lie face down, grovel”)). Cognate with Scots grovel, gruvil (“to grovel”), German grübeln (“to meditate, ponder”), Norwegian Nynorsk gruvla (“to grovel”). Compare also West Frisian groebeltsje (“to make a mess, skip school, skive”), Dutch grobbelen (“to grope, root, grub”).

Pronunciation

Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɒvəl

Verb

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

(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. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

groveler / groveller

Translations

to be prone on the ground

Bulgarian: лежа по очи (leža po oči)
Finnish: olla rähmällään
Italian: giacere bocconi, giacere prono
Russian: лежа́ть ниц impf (ležátʹ nic)

to crawl

Bulgarian: пълзя (bg) (pǎlzja)
Catalan: arrossegar (ca)
Czech: plazit se
Danish: krybe, kravle
Dutch: kruipen (nl)
Finnish: ryömiä (fi), madella (fi), kontata (fi)
German: kriechen (de)
Italian: strisciare (it)
Russian: ползать (ru) (polzatʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: puzati (sh), plaziti (sh), gmizati (sh)
Turkish: sürünmek (tr)

to abase oneself

Azerbaijani: sürünmək (az), iməkləmək, alçalmaq
Bulgarian: унижавам се (unižavam se)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: nöyristellä (fi), madella (fi), olla rähmällään
French: s'abaisser (fr)
German: kriechen (de), katzbuckeln (de), auf dem Bauch rutschen
Italian: abbassarsi (it), umiliarsi (it)
Russian: унижа́ться (ru) (unižátʹsja), пресмыка́ться (ru) (presmykátʹsja)
Spanish: humillarse (es)
Turkish: sürünmek (tr)

to be slavishly nice in the hope of securing something

Bulgarian: подмазвам се (podmazvam se), раболепнича (bg) (rabolepniča)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: kruipen (nl)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: mielistellä (fi)
French: larbiner (fr)
German: kriechen (de), schleimen (de)
Hebrew: התרפס‎ (he) (hitrapés)
Italian: ingraziarsi (it)
Russian: please add this translation if you can
Serbo-Croatian: puzati (sh)
Spanish: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: ayaklarına/dizlerine kapanmak (tr), sürünmek (tr)

to take pleasure in mundane things

Finnish: rypeä (fi)
Italian: grufolarsi

Anagrams

Glover, Vogler, glover