May 15, 2003

grovel

vi.

1. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often used transitively with ‘over’ or ‘through’. The file scavenger has been groveling through the /usr directories for 10 minutes now. Compare grind and crunch. Emphatic form: grovel obscenely.

2. To examine minutely or in complete detail. The compiler grovels over the entire source program before beginning to translate it. I grovelled through all the documentation, but I still couldn't find the command I wanted.

Posted by Jargon File at May 15, 2003 10:44 AM

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