The suggestion is made that creep in solids can occur by time-dependent changes in elastic properties. Specific mechanisms include cavity formation and growth, crack nucleation and growth, grain boundary migration in polycrystalline solids with elastically anisotropic grains and the redistribution of the individual phases within a composite. Creep rates by these four mechanisms are analysed and discussed for simple mechanical models. Recommendations are made for the interpretation of creep data in order to clearly separate the contribution of elastic creep from the total creep deformation.