Dictionary definition of “creeping crud”

creeping crud

n. an unspecific illness or feeling of growing unwellness; generally, an ill-advised or disfavored circumstance that gradually increases. Subjects: English, Health

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Citations: 1945 Time (Aug. 13) “Jungle Rot”: “Jungle rot,” “New Guinea crud” or “the creeping crud” are U.S. servicemen’s names for any & every kind of tropical skin disease. [1962 Howard W. Polsky Cottage Six: The Social System of Delinquent Boys in Residential Treatment p. 113: Mel Foster offered “Creeping Crud” but it was rejected by the observer as “too mushy.” Then Perry said, “Well, why don’t we just call you…[an obscenity], and everybody laughed.] 1965 Robert Pollak The Austin News (Chicago, Illinois) (May 19) “Criticall Speaking” p. 21N: Pharmacists who don’t write the name of the medicine on the bottle, only the name of the doctor (illegible) and a number. So six months later you can’t use your specific for creeping crud because you don’t know which bottle to shake well. 1980 Richard Cleroux Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) (Nov. 24) “An old-fashioned Western meeting—on separating” p. P1: Mr. Chrapko agrees. He says he has detected a “steady drift towards communism.” Later, he will describe this as “the creeping crud.” 1987 Randolph E. Schmid @ Washington, D.C. (Associated Press) (Nov. 12) “Population Fund Cut May Increase Abortions, Maternal Deaths”: Ms. Camp charged that this “creeping crud of a policy” is having a negative effect on women’s health, child health care programs and other health operations. 1988 Neal Farmer Houston Chronicle (Texas) (Nov. 17) “Two area volleyball teams have sights on 5A title/Clear Lake trying to overcome injuries” p. 6: The creeping crud was going around, so some players were sick with flu-like symptoms. Then we lost two non-starters with mono. And we were afraid it was going to spread to the whole team. 2007 Ben Wear Austin American-Statesman (Texas) (Mar. 19) “March madness over tolls grips Legislature”: The Republican state representative from Williamson County, interviewed at his Capitol office last week, for 10 days or so had been fighting what some people call the creeping crud, a debilitating mixture of cold, flu and allergy symptoms hitting many Central Texans this spring.

Posted 22 Mar 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend