crawler

plural crawlers

1. A child who is able to creep using its hands and knees but is not able to walk.
2. hobbiesA crawl swimmer.
3. A tractor crawler, a motorized vehicle that uses caterpillar tracks instead of wheels.
4. InternetA software bot that autonomously follows connected paths such as links between web pages.

   These serve as an algorithmic way to judge the “mobileness” of a site, and similar algorithms are likely to be used by the search crawlers.

   2011, James Pearce, Professional Mobile Web Development with WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal, page 466

   1 more example

   Crawler-based search engines have three major elements. The first is the spider, also called the crawler, which visits a web page, reads it, and then follows links to other pages within the site.

   2008, Alex Michael, Ben Salter, Marketing Through Search Optimization, Routledge, →ISBN, page xii

   Synonyms: spider

5. A mobile stage in the development of stationary hemipteran insects such as scale insects—generally the first instar.
6. UKobsoleteslangbusinessA cab that is driven slowly along while its driver looks out for a fare.

   INFANTS’ CRAWLER-AND-SHIRT SETS. […] Crawlers have lined bibs accented with white piping.

   1980, Montgomery Ward, “More warmth for Toddlers and Infants, too”, in Fall & Winter ’80, Chicago, Ill., →OCLC, page 534, column 3

   2 more examples

   MATERIALS required: Two hanks of crepe or plain silk (this amount makes sleeves, also directions for which are given, though the crawler in the photograph is sleeveless); […]

   1930, The Homestead, Bloemfontein, →OCLC, page 28, column 1

   T-shirts, stickers, and baby crawlers are available with the Liquid Medication logo: a martini glass. What a nice thing for a baby to wear; a crawler with an alcoholic drink on it.

   2005, Dan Crowley, “Liquid Medication”, in The 505 Weirdest Online Stores […], Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Hysteria, →ISBN, page 52

7. Synonym of crawler crane.

   Synonyms: crawler crane

plural crawlers

1. AustraliaobsoleteA person who is abused, physically or verbally, and returns to the abuser a supplicant.
2. AustraliaUKslangA sycophant.