Etymology

Used in Australia in the convict period (1788-1850) to describe a prisoner who was purposely and extensively abused by an overseer (also a convict ) and thereby driven to escape but finding it impossible to survive in the Australian bush, surrender to this overseer who would then have his penal term reduced.The particular crawler was picked for his weak personality and might escape and return a number of times increasing his own penal term each time.According to James Tucker,some convict overseers had there sentences extensively reduced using this odious practice.Source-James Tucker's novel Ralph Rashleigh 1845.

Tractor crawler is from "to crawl" — to move slowly, by dragging the body along the ground.

Noun

1. A person who is abused ,physically or verbally, and returns to the abuser a supplicant.
2. A tractor crawler, a motorized vehicle that uses caterpillar tracks instead of wheels to achieve superior floatation and traction. Crawlers are more expensive in maintenance and harder to operate than wheel tractors, but are often critical for working on soft soils, transporting great weights, and especially for bulldozing.
3. A child who is able to creep using his hands and knees but is not able to walk.
4. A software bot that autonomously follows connected paths such as webpage links.
5. A sycophant