Is there a verb for "walking slowly into water"? [closed]
I need a verb meaning "walking slowly into water" that fits this example:
She shivered a bit - as the lake water was cold - but then continued to ____ into the deep.
I'd use wade:
to walk through water, to move or proceed with difficulty
Or, in your example
She shivered a bit - as the lake water was cold - but then continued to wade into the deep.
Wade is good for the "entering water" context, but to convey the idea of overcoming the trepidation of entering the cold water, consider
ease (M-W)
to maneuver gently or carefully: eased himself into the chair
The resultant sentence would therefore read
She shivered a bit - as the lake water was cold - but then continued to ease into the deep.
In this context, and it definitely gives off a distinct vibe, so if this doen't match the tone, please feel free to overlook, but I think "descend into the deep" could be a good fit here.
Read the sentence aloud with "descend" and you, too will shiver.
The first thing that sprung to mind is that I would say:
She shivered a bit - as the lake water was cold - but then crept into the deep.
It's not a water specific word but since your context already describes the environment, I think it's more important to convey the sense of what's happening more so than than anything else, and aside from the
I am also almost certain I've heard it used in the context of entering all sorts of seemingly void mediums, like space, darkness, shadows and yes even deep water, although I can't seem to find a good illustrative quotations regarding those specific usages right now. Regardless "creep in [to something]" is a very common set of words meaning something along the lines of:
to go into something or a place slowly and carefully; to sneak into something or a place.
The cat crept into the bedroom. Max planned to creep into the house and take cash and jewelry.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002
It derives from these senses of the word creep:
To move slowly, feebly or timorously [read: timidly]; as an old or infirm man, who creeps about his chamber.
To move slowly and insensibly, as time.
To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day.
- To move secretly; to move so as to escape detection, or prevent suspicion.
Of this sort are they who creep into houses, and lead away captive silly women. 2 Timothy 3:6.
- To steal in; to move forward unheard and unseen; to come or enter unexpectedly or unobserved; as, some error has crept into the copy of a history.
The American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, published in 1828
An especially convenient thing about using creep, is that it can be used with all sorts of prepositions, which even gives you an exit plan:
See also: creep out
creep out (of something) to go out of something or a place slowly and carefully; to sneak out of something or a place. A little mouse crept out of the cupboard. The fox crept out of the henhouse, carrying a chicken. See also: creep, out
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002
However "Creep Out" is a little more context sensitive than "Creep In". Sometimes I've also heard creep out used to refer to feelings of uneasiness, but in the past tense form, that sense of the word is usually spelled creeped instead.
"Crept is still considered preferable to creeped in almost all cases, with one main exception in the past tense of the phrasal verb creep out, meaning to strike [someone] as weird in a frightinging or off-putting way" — Excerpt from the Grammarist article Crept vs. Creeped
She shivered a bit, as the lake water was cold, but then continued to ____ into the deep.
In this context, I get the impression you’re talking about someone walking into the water, gradually getting deeper. She may not be wading yet — perhaps she’s merely paddling, but the water will shortly be up to her thighs and then her hips, and then she’ll be wading. The point you’re looking to emphasise is slow progression.
A common word for that is inch. Besides its noun meaning as a well known unit of length, it can also be a verb.
Collins definition of inch:
to move or be moved very slowly or in very small steps ⇒ the car inched forward
It suggests moving slowly and also moving carefully (as implied by the “very small steps”). This seems to suit your use-case.