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."