grovel, v.
(ˈgrɒv(ə)l)
Also 6 grovell.
[Back-formation from grovelling adv., apprehended as a pr. pple.]
1. intr. To lie prone or with the face downwards; to move with the body prostrate upon the ground; to grovel in the dust or dirt (fig.): to humble oneself, perform an act of humiliation.
| 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. ii. 9 Gaze on, and grouell on thy face. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 8 [Idols] They ceremoniously kneele and bow unto, groveling then upon the Earth, they throw dust on their faces. 1671 Milton Samson 141 Old warriors turn'd Their plated backs under his heel, Or groveling soil'd their crested helmets in the dust. 1700 Addison æneid iii. Misc. Wks. 1726 I. 58 Thunder-struck Enceladus Groveling beneath the incumbent mountain's weight Lyes stretch'd supine. 1725 Pope Odyss. viii. 575 Close to his breast she grovels on the ground. 1839 Tennyson in Mem. (1897) I. 171 She was grovelling on the floor in an extremity of fear. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xiv, Am I to grovel in the dust for him to walk over? 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. liii. 105 She is not such a paragon that a man should condescend to grovel in the dirt for her. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 211 The Parliament..grovelled in the dust at the Cardinal's feet. |
b. fig.
| 1605 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows i. §33 Every worldling is an hypocrite, for while his face naturally lookes upward..his hart grovels beneath on the earth. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 378 Through surfeiting we live groveling and groping after base Delights, as Hogs do for Acorns. 1719 Watts Hymn, ‘Come, holy Spirit, Heav'nly Dove’, Look how we grovel here below. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 147 ¶9 A wretch doomed to grovel in obscurity for want of assurance. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, I. viii. 272 The vindictive Laud grovelled in a meaner and more cruel victory. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 280 The philosophy of Berkeley..is still grovelling on the level of sense. |
c. quasi-trans. with out.
| 1790 By-stander 7 If neglected, they grovel out their day, and vanish at night like a vapour. |
2. causal. To lay prone on the ground. rare—1.
| 1843 E. Jones Sens. & Event 25 [He] grovelleth on the ground His naked flesh. |
Hence ˈgrovel n., the action of grovelling; ˈgrovelled ppl. a., humiliated, debased.
| a 1845 Hood Lamia i. 73 If you could see How this poor figure once was marred and villified, How grovelled and debased. 1892 Black & White 19 Mar. 366/1 The only possible attitude is a grovel. |