grovel: vi. 1. To work interminably and without apparent progress.

:grovel: vi. 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."
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary

Related:

• grovel vi. 1. To work interminably and without apparent progress.
  Often used transitively with `over' or `through'. ...
• silly walk: [from Monty Python's Flying Circus] vi.
  1. A ridiculous procedure required to accomplish...
• silly walk vi. [from Monty Python's Flying Circus] 1.
  A ridiculous procedure required to accomplish a...
• grind: vt. 1. [MIT and Berkeley] To prettify hardcopy of code,
  especially LISP code, by reindenting lines, printing...
• buzz: vi. 1. Of a program, to run with no indication of progress and perhaps without guarantee of ever finishing;
  esp. said of programs thought to be executing tight...
• dump: n. 1. An undigested and voluminous mass of information about a problem or the state of a system,
  especially one routed to the slowest available output...
• wango: /wang'goh/ n. Random bit-level {grovel}ling going on in a system during some unspecified operation.
  Often used in combination with {mumble}. For example...
• chug: vi. To run slowly; to {grind} or {grovel}. "The disk is chugging like crazy." -
  The AI Hackers...
• wedged: adj. 1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding without help.
  This is different from having crashed. If the system...