n. [ OE. credo, crede, AS. creda, fr. L. credo I believe, at the beginning of the Apostles' creed, fr. credere to believe; akin to OIr. cretim I believe, and Skr. çraddadhāmi; çrat trust + dhā to put. See Do, v. t., and cf. Credo, Grant. ] 1. A definite summary of what is believed; esp., a summary of the articles of Christian faith; a confession of faith for public use; esp., one which is brief and comprehensive. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the Protestant system the creed is not coordinate with, but always subordinate to, the Bible. Schaff-Herzog Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any summary of principles or opinions professed or adhered to. [ 1913 Webster ]

I love him not, nor fear him; there's my creed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Apostles' creed,
Athanasian creed,
Nicene creed. See under Apostle, Athanasian, Nicene. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To believe; to credit. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That part which is so creeded by the people. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a creed. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. crecca; akin to D. kreek, Icel. kriki crack, nook; cf. W. crig crack, crigyll ravine, creek. Cf. Crick, Crook. ] 1. A small inlet or bay, narrower and extending further into the land than a cove; a recess in the shore of the sea, or of a river. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each creek and cavern of the dangerous shore. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

They discovered a certain creek, with a shore. Acts xxvii. 39. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A stream of water smaller than a river and larger than a brook. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lesser streams and rivulets are denominated creeks. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Any turn or winding. [ 1913 Webster ]

The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The chub sucker. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl.; sing. Creek. (Ethnol.) A tribe or confederacy of North American Indians, including the Muskogees, Seminoles, Uchees, and other subordinate tribes. They formerly inhabited Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Containing, or abounding in, creeks; characterized by creeks; like a creek; winding. “The creeky shore.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gael. craidhleag basket, creel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. An osier basket, such as anglers use. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Spinning) A bar or set of bars with skewers for holding paying-off bobbins, as in the roving machine, throstle, and mule. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. Crept Crope Obs.); p. p. Crept; p. pr. & vb. n. Creeping. ] [ OE. crepen, creopen, AS. creópan; akin to D. kruipen, G. kriechen, Icel. krjupa, Sw. krypa, Dan. krybe. Cf. Cripple, Crouch. ] 1. To move along the ground, or on any other surface, on the belly, as a worm or reptile; to move as a child on the hands and knees; to crawl. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move slowly, feebly, or timorously, as from unwillingness, fear, or weakness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whining schoolboy . . . creeping, like snail,
Unwillingly to school. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a guilty thing, I creep. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or one's self; as, age creeps upon us. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sophistry which creeps into most of the books of argument. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women. 2. Tim. iii. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To slip, or to become slightly displaced; as, the collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying; the quicksilver on a mirror may creep. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn; as, a creeping sycophant. [ 1913 Webster ]

To come as humbly as they used to creep. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To grow, as a vine, clinging to the ground or to some other support by means of roots or rootlets, or by tendrils, along its length. “Creeping vines.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl; as, the sight made my flesh creep. See Crawl, v. i., 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or process of creeping. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A distressing sensation, or sound, like that occasioned by the creeping of insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

A creep of undefinable horror. Blackwood's Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

Out of the stillness, with gathering creep,
Like rising wind in leaves. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mining) A slow rising of the floor of a gallery, occasioned by the pressure of incumbent strata upon the pillars or sides; a gradual movement of mining ground. [ 1913 Webster ]