| Creed | v. t. To believe; to credit. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] That part which is so creeded by the people. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] | | Creed | 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 ]
| | Creedless | a. Without a creed. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ] | | Creek | 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 ] | | Creekfish | n. (Zool.) The chub sucker. [ 1913 Webster ] | | Creeks | 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 ] | | Creeky | a. Containing, or abounding in, creeks; characterized by creeks; like a creek; winding. “The creeky shore.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ] | | Creel | 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 ] | | Creep | 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 ] | | Creep | 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 ] |
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