grouiller

Meaning

1. to mill about, swarm with people
2. to swarm or crawl
3. (colloquial) to hurry; to get a move on

Concepts

swarm

teem

abound

crawl

stir

flock

crowd

vamoose

crawl about

mill about

begin to swarm

Synonyms

fourmiller

gargouiller

gigoter

pulluler

regorger

se rassembler

tracer

essaimer

grouiller de

s’attrouper

se magner

s'agiter

bouger

s'affairer

foisonner

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡʁu.je/

Etymology

From Middle French grouiller (“to shake, stir, agitate, scold, hasten, swarm, teem, crawl”), from Old French grouiller (“to rumble”), alteration of Old French grouller (“to growl”), from Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise, rumble, growl, grunt, grumble, scold”), from Old Dutch *grullen, from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną, *graljaną (“to shout, make angry, provoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to rattle, make a noise, grumble”). Cognate with Middle High German grüllen (“to scorn, jeer”), Old English griellan (“to anger, provoke, vex”). More at grill.
Alternate etymology derives sense of crawl from Frankish *grubilōn (“to dig, burrow, rummage, crawl”), from Proto-Germanic *grubilōną (“to dig, search, ponder”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scrape, scratch”). Cognate with German grübeln (“to brood over, mull over, speculate, ponder”), Old Norse grúfla (“to bend low, creep, crawl”). More at crawl.