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Glite Dictionary
🐄 Animal disease 😨 A scared feeling
creeps

creeps

9.9
A sickness in young cattle and sheep that comes from lack of minerals and makes them weak with soft bones
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : raquitismo
  • Veterinarians diagnosed the herd with creeps based on symptoms of weakness and bone deformity.

Examples

  • The farmer noticed that several sheep had creeps.

  • The farmer noticed the creeps affecting several sheep after a change in their diet.

  • Proper mineral supplements can help prevent creeps in young calves.

  • Some cattle are suffering from creeps due to poor diet.

  • The farmer noticed that some of his sheep were suffering from creeps, which led to their poor health.

  • Due to a nutrient deficiency in their diet, the cattle developed creeps, which made them move slowly and stiffly.

  • After consulting the veterinarian, he learned that creeps was affecting his livestock, causing anemia and weakness.

Surface Forms

creep singular
creeps plural

Morphology

creeps = creep (semi-transparent) = creep + s

The plural form is regular, and the disease name is motivated by the animals' slow, creeping gait, but the specialized veterinary sense is not fully predictable from the base alone.

Etymology

Creeps for the cattle disease comes from the old verb creep, meaning 'to move slowly or along the ground', because sick animals walked with a slow, stiff gait as if they were 'creeping', so farmers called the illness creeps.