Other forms: grovelling, groveling
To grovel is to behave humbly in order to win favour. Grovel for forgiveness, a grovelling apology, made to grovel.
It is always contemptuous, and the contempt is for the motive rather than the humility: an apology is fine and a grovelling apology is not, because it is aimed at getting something. Literally the word means to lie face down on the ground.
1verbgrovelTo behave humbly in order to win favour.
“He had to grovel to his boss after missing the important meeting.”
grovel is a submitting.
Old Norse grufla means to lie face down. The English verb was made from an adverb meaning on the face.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʰrebʰ‑ — to dig, scrape, scrabble, scratch
Proto-Germanic
*grubilōną — to dig, delve into
Old Norse
grufla
Middle English
*grovelen
English, today
grovel
Built from
From Middle English grovelen, from Old Norse grufla, grœfla (“to grovel”), from Proto-Germanic grubilōną (“to dig, delve into”), from Proto-Indo-European gʰrebʰ‑ (“to dig, scrape, scrabble, scratch”); akin to Old Norse á grufu (“on one's belly”) (> Old Norse grúfa (“to lie face down, grovel”)). Cognate with Scots grovel, gruvil (“to grovel”), German grübeln (“to meditate, ponder”), Norwegian Nynorsk gruvla (“to grovel”). Compare also West Frisian groebeltsje (“to make a mess, skip school, skive”), Dutch grobbelen (“to grope, root, grub”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA