credulity 
Credulity, as a mental and moral phenomenon, mani- 
fests itself 'in widely different ways, according as it chances 
to be the daughter of fancy or terror. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 81. 
= Syn Fanaticism, Birjotry, etc. See superstition. 
credulous (kred'u-lus), rt. [= F. crednU = Sp. 
cn'dulo = Pg. It. credulo, < L. credulus, apt to 
believe, < credere, believe: see creed.'] 1. Char- 
acterized by or exhibiting credulity ; uncritical 
with regard to beliefs; easily deceived; gull- 
ible. 
A credulous father, and a brother noble, 
Whose nature is so far from doing harms nrooHamnTi 
Shak., Lear, i. 2. * leuSman 
creeper 
_ ., ' See en HI. 
concealed not my name,'why this'author defending ; that cr eep (krep), ' V. i.\ pret. and 
-J...J I., tli,. ........I.. U'l. 1,1(1 MtnAABJ tlU **"*" V 1 / ' rr , A . 
1342 
I marvelled, when as I, in a subject so new to this age, creem (krem), 
, 
part which is so creeded by the people would >Mlhl*j freepin ^ 
That he suspects none. 
Children and fools are ever credulous, 
And I am both, I think, for I believe. 
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, iv. 4. 
2f. Believed too readily. [Eare.] 
'Twas he possessed me with your credulous death. 
Beau, ami Fl. 
credulously (kred'u-lus-li), adv. With credu- vowel), anTnleCcove, like"F. crige, % a creek, of 
f* 3 __! *_ - f T 1 1 .'T.-' _ nn l, __ Qnr jli.il 
creedal (kre'dal), a. [< creed + -al.~\ Of or 
pertaining to creed; founded upon creed: as, 
creedal unity. [Rare.] 
Four columns . . . advocate formal or creedal unity, 
and two editorials the opposite. 
Church Union, Jan. 11, 1868. 
creedless (kred'les), a. [< creed + -less.] 
Without creed, or definite formula of belief. 
Q (kredz ' man), n. ; pi. creedsmen 
(-men). [< creed's, poss. of creed, + man.'] A 
maker of or believer in a creed or creeds. The 
Independent (New York), May 25, 1871. 
creek 1 (krek), n. [In the United States common- 
ly pronounced and sometimes written crick; ear- 
ly mod. E. creek and crick, < ME. creke (a doubt- 
pp. crept, ppr. 
[< ME. crepen (pret. crep, crap, crope, 
pi. 'crupe, cropen, crope, pp. cropen, crope), < 
AS. crcdpan (pret. credp, pi. erupon, pp. cropen), 
creep, crawl, = OS. kriopan = OFries. kriapa = 
D. kruipen = MLG. LG. krupen = Icel. krjupa = 
Sw. krypa = Dan. krybe = (with cli from k = 
f) OHG. chriochan, MHG. G. kriechen, creep.] 
. To move with the body near or touching the 
ground, as a reptile or an insect, a cat stealthily 
approaching its prey, or an infant on hands and 
knees. 
We wol nougt krepe of [out of] these skinnes lest vs 
schathe tidde [harm befall us]. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3084. 
The slow-worm creeps, and the thin weasel there 
Follows the mouse. Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
2. In bot. : (a) To grow prostrate along the 
The Queen, by her Leiger Ambassador, adviseth the 
King not too credulously to entertain those Reports. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 394. 
credulousness (kred'u-lus-nes), n. Credulity; 
readiness to believe without sufficient evidence ; 
gullibility. 
Beyond all credulity ... is the credulousness of Athe- 
ists, whose belief is so absurdly strong as to believe that 
chance could make the world, when it cannot build ahouse. 
Clarke, Sermons, I. i. 
creed (kred), n. [< ME. crede (sometimes, as 
L., credo), < AS. creda = Icel. kredda (also, af- 
ter L., kredo) = MHG. crede (cf. Gael, ere) ; in 
toi uti nawivj iu..i..i.v* . w vim y^... BWM v.~/, ... And as Almygllty uoa ana tneyr goou nap wome, va 
other languages usually in L. form, OF. F. Pr. Tcwysdaye in the nyght the rage of the sayd tempest put 
Sp. Pg. It. credo, creed; < L. credo, I believe, 
the first word of the Latin version of the Apos- 
tles' and Nicene creeds ; 1st pers. sing. pres. ind. 
act. of credere, believe, trust, confide : see credit, 
.] 1. A statement of belief on any subject, 
religious, political, scientific, or other; especial- 
ly, a formal statement of religious belief ; a 
"form of words, setting forth with authority 
certain articles of belief which are regarded by 
the framers as necessary for salvation, or at 
least for the well-being of the Christian Church" 
(Seluiff, The Creeds of Christendom, I. i.). In the 
Protestant churches the authority of creeds is relative 
and limited, and always subordinate to the Bible as the 
only infallible rule of faith and practice. In the Greek 
and Knman Catholic churches the creed of the church 
is regarded as of equal authority over the believer with 
the Bible. The principal historical creeds of Christen- 
dom are the following : the Apostles' Creed (see apostle) 
and the Nicene Creed (see Kicene), both originating in 
the fourth century, and generally accepted by Christian 
churches, Protestant, Greek, and Roman Catholic ; the Atfi- 
anasian Creed (see Athanasian), retained by the Church 
of England, but not by the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the United States, nor by other Protestant communi- 
; the Decrees of the Council of Trent (A. I). 1563), the 
ful spelling), reg. crike, cryke, cryk (with short ground or other surface. (6) To grow below 
vowel), an inlet, cove, like F. criqite, a creek, of K - * - . 
Scand. origin : < Icel. kriki, a nook, = Sw. dial. 
krik, a bend, nook, corner, creek, cove, = D. 
kreek, a creek, bay, = AS. "crecca, a creek, pre- 
served in theproper names Creccagelad, now 
Cricklade in Wiltshire, and Creceanford, Crcc- 
ganford, now Crayford in Kent. See crick?.] 
1 . A small inlet, bay, or cove ; a recess in the 
shore of the sea or of a river, or of any consid- 
erable body of water. 
He knew wcl alle the havenes, as the! were, . . . 
And euery cryke [var. cri/k, 1 MS. ; creke, Tyrwhitt] in Bre- 
tayne and in Spayne. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 409. 
And as Almyghty God and theyr good hap wolde, on 
theym into a lytell krt/ke bytwene ,ij. hylles at the shore. 
Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 75. 
We crossed the plain near the sea, and came to a very 
small bay, or creek. . . . This creek is the old harbour 
Metallum, or Metalia, now called Matala. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 250. 
On the bank of Jordan, by a creek, 
Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play. 
Milton, F. R., ii. 26. 
2. A small stream ; a brook ; a rivulet. [Com- 
mon in this sense in the United States and 
Australia, but now rare in England.] See 
crick 2 . 
Lesser streams and rivulets are denominated creeks. 
Goldsmith. 
3f. A turn or winding. 
The passage of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands. 
Shak., C. of E., iv. 2. 
Hence 4f. A device; an artifice; a trick. 
The more u,ueynte erekes that they make, 
The more wol I stele. Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 131. 
5. A small seaboard town of insufficient im- 
portance to have a customs-station of its own. 
[Eng.] E. D. 
To twist and 
ties 
great symbol of Romanism (see Tridentine) ; the Orthodox ^ ._, 
Confession of Mogilas (seventeenth century), and the creed creek ' t (krek), V. i. [< creek^, n.] 
ratified by the Synod of Jerusalem (1672), both recognized .;,} . f orTn ,...,. .,]< 
by the Greek Church; the Augsburg Confession (1530), 
the symbol of the Lutheran Church ; the Helvetic Confes- 
sions (two confessions, a first and a second Helvetic Con- 
the surface, as rooting shoots. A creeping 
plant usually fastens itself by roots to the 
surface upon which it grows. 
Oh, a dainty plant is the ivy green, 
That creepeth o'er ruins old. 
Dickens, Pickwick, vi. 
3. To move along, or from place to place, 
slowly, feebly, or timorously ; move impercep- 
tibly, as time. 
Now age is cropen on me ful stille, 
And makith me oold & blac of ble, 
And y go downeward with the hille. 
Uymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 84. 
The whining schoolboy, with his satchel, 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school. Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 
Hour after hour crept by. 
WhitKer, Cassandra Southwick. 
4. To move secretly; move so as to escape 
detection or evade suspicion; enter unob- 
served. 
Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead 
captive silly women. 2 Tim. iii. 6. 
The idea of her life shall sweetly creep 
Into his study of imagination. 
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 
The sophistry which creeps into most of the books of 
argument. Locke. 
5. To move or behave with extreme servility 
or humility ; move as if affected with a sense 
of humiliation or terror. 
They creepe a little perhaps, and sue for grace, till they 
have gotten new breath and recovered their strength 
agayne. Spenser, State of Ireland. 
Like a guilty thing I creep. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, vii. 
6. To have a sensation as of worms or insects 
creeping on the skin: as, the sight made my 
flesh creep. 7. To move longitudinally : said 
of the rails of a railroad. 
The south track, under an eastward traffic of 4,807,000 
tons, crept east 414 feet on the approach, and 240 feet on 
the bridge, in the same time. Science, V. 845. 
= Syn. Crawl, Creep. See crawll. 
1. The act of 
minster Confession of Faith (1647), the symbol of the Pres- 
byterian Church ; the Canoiu of the Synod of Dort (1619), 
A gathering creep. Lowell. 
2. In coal-mining, the apparent rising of the 
lands and the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America ; the 
Thirty-nine Articles (1563 -71) of the Church of England 
and (revised in 1801) of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the United States ; the Savoy Confession (1658), a Con- 
gregational symbol, and formerly generally accepted by _ . .^ 
Congregationalists ; and the Twenty-five Articles of the creel (krel), n. 
Methodist Episcopal Church (1784), of which the first ' 
twenty-four were prepared by John Wesley, on the basis 
of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. A 
number of other special declarations of faith by other 
Protestant bodies are of less historical significance. The 
word creed, however, in its strict sense applies only to 
comparatively brief formulas of profession of faith (as the 
Apostles' Creed), beginning with the words "I believe" 
or "We believe," and intended to be used at baptism or 
reception of converts, or in public worship. 
Also wher the Postyllys [Apostles] made Crede of ower 
feyth. Torkington, Diarle of Eng. Travel!, p. 29. 
And the Creed was commonly then called the Rule of 
Faith'. Stillingfleet, Sermons, III. ii. 
Men of science do not pledge themselves to creeds. 
Huxley, Origin of Species, p. 145. 
2. What is believed ; accepted doctrine ; espe- 
cially, religious doctrine. 
Necessity is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of 
slaves. W. Pitt, Speech on the India Bill, Nov., 1783. 
The salt water so creekelh about it, that it almost insu- _ _ ._. 
lateth it [a town]. Holland, tr. of Camden. creep (krep), n. [< creep, 0.J 
^attel^^ cree i> in e- [Rare - ] 
creek-fish (krek fish), n. A local name in the 
United States of the chub-sucker. 
iug creeks ; full of creeks ; winding. 
A water, whose outgushing flood 
Ran bathing all the creakie shore allot. 
Spenser, Visions of Bellay, st, 9. 
[Sc. creel, creil, creill, crail, < 
ME. crelle, < Gael, craidhleag = Ir. craidltlag, a 
basket, creel, related to Gael, creatnall = Ir. 
craidhal, a cradle. Less prob. < Gael, and Ir. 
criol, a chest, coffer, Ir. crilin, a box, chest, 
coffer, pyx.] 1. An osier basket or pannier. 
Specifically (a) A basket for carrying on the hack or sus- 
pended from the shoulder : as, a fish-wife's creel ; an an- 
gler's creel ; a miner's creel. 
We hae three hundre' [herring] left in the creel. 
C. Reade, Christie Johnstone, ii. 
(&) A basket or cage for catching lobsters or crabs. 
2. In angling, fish that are placed in a creel ; 
the catch. 3. In a spinning-machine, a frame- 
work for holding bobbins or spools. 4. A kind 
of frame used for slaughtering sheep upon. 
[North. Eng.] 
Also crail. 
To be in a creel, or to nave one's wits in a creel, 
to labor under some temporary confusion or stupefaction 
of mind. [Scotch.] To COUP the creels. See cot/pi. 
Our estimate of the actual creed of Lessing, now that Creel (krel), v. t. [< creel, n.] In angling, to 
all the materials are before us, is very difficult to fix. put into the creel ; hence, to capture : as, he 
Prof. Cairns, Unbelief in the 18th Century, p. 215. ^ reekd fifty trout . 
creedt (kred), r. t. [< creed, n., or directly < L. creel-frame (krel'fram), n. In a spinning-ma- 
credere, believe: see creed, n., and cf. credit, i>.] chine, a frame for holding the bobbins of rov- 
To credit; believe. ings which are to be spun. 
pillars, or where the roof is not fully supported, 
caused by the pressure of the superincumbent 
strata. If the under-day is very soft and the pillars are 
not sufficiently large, a colliery may thus be entirely de- 
stroyed. 
3. pi. A sensation as of something crawling 
over one; a sensation as of shivering. See 
creep, v. i., 6. Also called creepers. 
They [locusts] got into one's hair and clothes, and gave 
one the creeps all over. 
Lady Brassey, Voyage of Sunbeam, I. vi. 
A room with a south light that made even the thought 
of painting in it send cold creeps all down your back. 
The Century, XXVIII. 541. 
creeper (kre'per), n. [< ME. crepere, a creeper, 
< AS. credpere, a cripple, < credpan, creep: see 
creep, v., and -er 1 .] 1. One who or that which 
creeps. 2f. One who cringes; a sycophant. 
A Courtly Gentleman to be loftie and curious in conn- 
tenaunce, yet sometimes a creeper, and a curry fauell with 
his superiours. Puttenhain, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 245. 
3. In bot., a plant which grows upon or just 
beneath the surface of the ground, or upon 
any other surface, sending out rootlets from the 
stem, as ivy and couch-grass, the common Vir- 
ginia creeper (Ampelopsis guinquefoJia), and the 
trumpet-creeper (Tecoma mil/cans). See cut 
under Bignoniacea'. The term is also popularly ap- 
plied to various plants which are more properly called 
climbers, as the Canary creejjer (Tropaolum aduncum), 
etc. 
