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Webster 1913 Edition

Crab

Crab

(krăb)
,
Noun.
[AS.
crabba
; akin to D.
krab
, G.
krabbe
,
krebs
, Icel.
krabbi
, Sw.
krabba
, Dan.
krabbe
, and perh. to E.
cramp
. Cf.
Crawfish
.]
1.
(Zool.)
One of the brachyuran Crustacea. They are mostly marine, and usually have a broad, short body, covered with a strong shell or carapace. The abdomen is small and curled up beneath the body.
☞ The name is applied to all the Brachyura, and to certain Anomura, as the hermit
crabs
. Formerly, it was sometimes applied to Crustacea in general. Many species are edible, the blue crab of the Atlantic coast being one of the most esteemed. The large European edible crab is
Cancer padurus
.
Soft-shelled crabs
are blue crabs that have recently cast their shells. See
Cancer
; also,
Box crab
,
Fiddler crab
,
Hermit crab
,
Spider crab
, etc., under
Box
,
Fiddler
. etc.
2.
The zodiacal constellation Cancer.
3.
[See
Crab
,
Adj.
]
(Bot.)
A crab apple; – so named from its harsh taste.
When roasted
crabs
hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl.
Shakespeare
4.
A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick.
[Obs.]
Garrick.
5.
(Mech.)
(a)
A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc.
(b)
A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc.
(c)
A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn.
(d)
A claw for anchoring a portable machine.
Calling crab
.
(Zool.)
See
Fiddler
.,
Noun.
, 2.
–
Crab apple
,
a small, sour apple, of several kinds; also, the tree which bears it; as, the European
crab apple
(
Pyrus Malus
var.
sylvestris
); the Siberian
crab apple
(
Pyrus baccata
); and the American (
Pyrus coronaria
).
–
Crab grass
.
(Bot.)
(a)
A grass (
Digitaria sanguinalis
syn.
Panicum sanguinalis
); – called also
finger grass
.
(b)
A grass of the genus
Eleusine
(
Eleusine Indica
); – called also
dog’s-tail grass
,
wire grass
, etc.
–
Crab louse
(Zool.)
,
a species of louse (
Phthirius pubis
), sometimes infesting the human body.
–
Crab plover
(Zool.)
,
an Asiatic plover (
Dromas ardeola
).
–
Crab's eyes
, or
Crab's stones
,
masses of calcareous matter found, at certain seasons of the year, on either side of the stomach of the European crawfishes, and formerly used in medicine for absorbent and antacid purposes; the gastroliths.
–
Crab spider
(Zool.)
,
one of a group of spiders (
Laterigradæ
); – called because they can run backwards or sideways like a crab.
–
Crab tree
,
the tree that bears crab applies.
–
Crab wood
,
a light cabinet wood obtained in Guiana, which takes a high polish.
McElrath.
–
To catch a crab
(Naut.)
,
a phrase used of a rower
:
(a)
when he fails to raise his oar clear of the water
;
(b)
when he misses the water altogether in making a stroke.

Crab

(krăb)
,
Verb.
T.
1.
To make sour or morose; to embitter.
[Obs.]
Sickness sours or
crabs
our nature.
Glanvill.
2.
To beat with a crabstick.
[Obs.]
J. Fletcher.

Crab

,
Verb.
I.
(Naut.)
To drift sidewise or to leeward, as a vessel.
Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Crab

,
Adj.
[Prob. from the same root as
crab
,
n.
]
Sour; rough; austere.
The
crab
vintage of the neighb'ring coast.
Dryden.

Webster 1828 Edition

Crab

CRAB

,
Noun.
[Gr. L.]
1 A crustaceous fish, the cray-fish, Cancer, a genus containing numerous species. They have usually ten feet, two of which are furnished with claws; two eyes, pedunculated, elongated and movable. To this genus belong the lobster, the shrimp, &c.
2.
A wild apple, or the tree producing it; so named from its rough taste.
3.
A peevish morose person.
4.
A wooden engine with three claws for launching ships and heaving them into the dock.
5.
A pillar used sometimes for the same purpose as a capstan.
6.
Cancer, a sign in the zodiac.
Crabs claws, in the materia medica, the tips of the claws of the common crab; used as absorbents.
Crabs eyes, in pharmacy, concretions formed in the stomach of the cray-fish. They are rounded on one side, and depressed and sinuated on the other, considerably heavy, moderately hard, and without smell. They are absorbent, discussive and diuretic.
Crab-lice, small insects that stick fast to the skin.

CRAB

,
Adj.
Sour; rough; austere.

Definition 2024

crab

crab

English

A crab

Noun

crab ‎(plural crabs)

  1. A crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace.
    • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
      But Richmond […] appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw […] that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.
  2. A bad-tempered person.
  3. (in plural crabs, informal) An infestation of pubic lice (Pthirus pubis).
    Although crabs themselves are an easily treated inconvenience, the patient and his partner(s) clearly run major STD risks.‎
  4. (slang) A playing card with the rank of three.
  5. (rowing) A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water.
  6. A defect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use.
    • 1915, W.S. Maugham, Of Human Bondage, chapter 116:
      -- "I suppose you wouldn't like to do a locum for a month on the South coast? Three guineas a week with board and lodging." -- "I wouldn't mind," said Philip. -- "It's at Farnley, in Dorsetshire. Doctor South. You'd have to go down at once; his assistant has developed mumps. I believe it's a very pleasant place." There was something in the secretary's manner that puzzled Philip. It was a little doubtful. -- "What's the crab in it?" he asked.
    • 1940, Horace Annesley Vachell, Little Tyrannies
      Arrested by the low price of another “desirable residence”, I asked “What's the crab?” The agent assured me that there was no crab. I fell in love with this house at sight. Happily, I discovered that it was reputed to be haunted.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Verb

crab ‎(third-person singular simple present crabs, present participle crabbing, simple past and past participle crabbed)

  1. (intransitive) To fish for crabs.
  2. (transitive, US, slang) To ruin.
    • 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, p. 224:
      ‘Just so we understand each other,’ he said after a pause. ‘If you crab this case, you'll be in a jam.’
  3. (intransitive) To complain.
  4. (intransitive, nautical, aviation) To drift sideways or to leeward (by analogy with the movement of a crab).
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ham. Nav. Encyc to this entry?)
  5. (transitive) To navigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against an air current in order to maintain a straight-line course.
  6. (obsolete, World War I), to fly slightly off the straight-line course towards an enemy aircraft, as the machine guns on early aircraft did not allow firing through the propeller disk.
  7. (rare) To back out of something.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “chapter XV”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:
      “Nothing can possibly go wrong.” “Just as you say, sir. But I still have that feeling.” The blood of the Woosters is hot, and I was about to tell him in set terms what I thought of his bally feeling, when I suddenly spotted what it was that was making him crab the act.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Middle English crabbe, of Germanic origin, plausibly from Scandinavian, cognate with Swedish dialect scrabba

Noun

crab ‎(plural crabs)

  1. The crab apple or wild apple.
    • 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 2 scene 2
      I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
      And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
  2. The tree bearing crab apples, which has a dogbane-like bitter bark with medical use.
  3. A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Garrick to this entry?)
  4. A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc.
  5. A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc.
  6. A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn.
  7. A claw for anchoring a portable machine.
Synonyms
Derived terms

Verb

crab ‎(third-person singular simple present crabs, present participle crabbing, simple past and past participle crabbed)

  1. (obsolete) To irritate, make surly or sour
  2. To be ill-tempered; to complain or find fault.
    • Glanvill
      Sickness sours or crabs our nature.
  3. (British dialect) To cudgel or beat, as with a crabstick
    (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Fletcher to this entry?)

Etymology 3

Possibly a corruption of the genus name Carapa

Noun

crab ‎(plural crabs)

  1. The tree species Carapa guianensis, native of South America.
Derived terms
  • crab-nut
  • crab-oil

Etymology 4

Alternation of carabiner

Noun

crab ‎(plural crabs)

  1. Short for carabiner.

References

  • Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523
  • Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of the English Language. Internatinal Edition. combined with Britannica World Language Dictionary. Chicago-London etc., Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc., 1965.

Anagrams

Romanian

Etymology

From French crabe.

Noun

crab m ‎(plural crabi)

  1. crab

See also

Etymology

From Middle English crabbe, from Old English crabba ‎(“crab; crayfish; cancer”), from Proto-Germanic *krabbô (compare Dutch krab, Low German Krabb, Swedish krabba), from *krabbōną 'to creep, crawl' (compare Saterland Frisian Kraabe, Dutch krabben), from Proto-Indo-European *grobʰ- ‎(“scratch, claw at”), a variant of *gerebʰ-. More at carve. Further cognates with frequentative-infix are Dutch krabbelen ‎(“scratch”) and German krabbeln ‎(“crawl”)

Pronunciation

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