creep vs glide

creep

verb
  • To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction. 

  • To slip, or to become slightly displaced. 

  • To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn. 

  • To covertly have sex (with a person other than one's primary partner); to cheat with. 

  • To grow across a surface rather than upwards. 

  • To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl. 

  • To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground. 

  • To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction. 

  • To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable. 

  • To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself. 

noun
  • The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock. 

  • Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric. 

  • A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through. 

  • A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure. 

  • A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something. 

  • The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively. 

  • A frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills. 

  • The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails). 

  • An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress. 

  • In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it. 

glide

verb
  • To move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly. 

  • To cause to glide. 

  • To fly unpowered, as of an aircraft. Also relates to gliding birds and flying fish. 

  • To pass with a glide, as the voice. 

noun
  • An attack or preparatory movement made by sliding down the opponent’s blade, keeping it in constant contact. 

  • A bird, the glede or kite. 

  • The joining of two sounds without a break. 

  • A transitional sound, especially a semivowel. 

  • A smooth and sliding step in dancing the waltz. 

  • The act of gliding. 

  • A kind of cap affixed to the base of the legs of furniture to prevent it from damaging the floor. 

How often have the words creep and glide occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )