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Glite Dictionary
to crawl over each other

to crawl over each other

1 3.4
Move over each other on hands and knees, often playfully
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : arrastrarse unos sobre otros
  • At the concert, fans were crawling over each other to get closer to the stage.

Examples

  • Scientists are still crawling over each other to get their names in "Nature."

    Blog text (12)

  • The children were crawling over each other in excitement as they waited for the playground to open.

  • During the race, the puppies were crawling over each other, eager to reach the finish line first.

Synonyms

to scramble
vsto crawl over each other
118 3.2

Climb quickly using your hands and feet on steep or rough ground

moves more slowly and playfully, often on hands and knees among others

Antonyms

to spread out
89 2.8

To move apart and cover a wider area

to stay in place
10 1.5

Not move from a place

Surface Forms

crawl over each other infinitive
crawled over each other past
crawled over each other past participle
crawling over each other present participle
crawls over each other third person singular

Morphology

crawl + over + each + other

The meaning is directly compositional: 'crawl' (move close to the ground) + 'over' (on top of/across) + 'each other' (reciprocal) yields a clear image of individuals moving on top of one another. This literal, motion-based construction is cross-linguistically common and would be predictable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Crawl over each other comes from the clear image of people or animals literally trying to crawl over one another, like children on a mat or fans rushing the stage. So it means 'to move over one another', often in a playful or hurried way.