crawl with
Be infested by
To crawl with something is to be covered or filled with it, usually unpleasantly—most often insects or other creatures in motion: The kitchen was crawling with ants.
The image is of many small things moving across a surface.
Extended to people: The place was crawling with cops.
The phrase suggests infestation or unwelcome abundance.
- aboundExist in plenty
- overrunSpread throughout uncontrollably
- maggotsLarval flies
- swarmMass of moving insects
- wrigglingTwisting with short movements
scuttling · teeming · brimming · ant hill · squirming · overflowing · forest floor · tide pool · creeping · coral reef · mice · infested · worm · locust · roaches · ants · bustling · termites