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." [Jargon File]