Past tense of creep; to move slowly, quietly, and carefully, often to avoid being noticed.
From Old English 'creopan' meaning to creep or crawl. The past tense 'crept' has been used since at least the 1200s, making it one of the oldest irregular verbs in English.
The word 'creep' has such ancient roots that it appears in Beowulf (written around 700 AD), where it describes how stealthily Grendel the monster approaches his victims—old English speakers knew that slow and quiet could be terrifying.
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