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crab

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Crab

English

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EnglishWikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A crab

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englishcrabbe, fromOld Englishcrabba(“crab; crayfish; cancer”), fromProto-West Germanic*krabbō, fromProto-Germanic*krabbô, from*krabbōną(“to creep, crawl”), fromProto-Indo-European*grobʰeh₂yéti(“scratch, claw at”), a metathesised o-grade of*gerbʰ-(“to carve, scratch”). More atcarve.

Cognates

See alsoDutchkrab, Low GermanKrabb, Danishkrabbe, Swedishkrabba.

Further cognates withfrequentative-infix areSaterland Frisiankrabbelje(“to creep, crawl”),Dutchkrabbelen(“to scratch”) andGermankrabbeln(“to crawl”). Possibly related toEnglishcreep andSwedishkrypa(“to creep, crawl”) etc.

Other origins have also been suggested, see Ancient Greekκάραβος(kárabos) (regarding the possibility of a substrate origin) and Persianخرچنگ (regarding possible ideophonic origin); compare also Old Armenianքարբ(kʻarb), GermanKrebs.

Noun

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crab (countable anduncountable,pluralcrabs)

  2. Anycrustacean of theinfraorderBrachyura, having five pairs of legs, theforemost of which are in the form ofclaws, and acarapace.
  3. (uncountable) Themeat of this crustacean, served as food;crabmeat.
    • 1959,Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, inThe Unknown Ajax:
      But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickledcrab, 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.
  4. Various otheranimals that resemble true crabs:
    1. Any of variouscrustacean in the infraorderAnomura, usually excludingsquat lobsters.
      Despite its name, thehermitcrab is not a true crab!
    2. Ahorseshoe crab.
  5. Abad-tempered person.
    • 1983 April 30, Sue Hyde, “Expanding Worldviews”, inGay Community News, page12:
      She so obviously enjoyed every second of the concert that only the most stubborncrab could not have been warmed by her charm.
  6. (in pluralcrabs, informal) Aninfestation ofpubic lice (Pthirus pubis).
    Althoughcrabs themselves are an easily treated inconvenience, the patient and his partner(s) clearly run majorSTD risks.
  7. (uncountable, aviation)Ellipsis ofcrab angle.
    The pilot had to hold fifteen degrees ofcrab during the approach to keep her plane from getting blown off the localizer course.
  8. (pokerslang) Aplaying card with therank of three.
  9. (rowing) A position in rowing where theoar is pushed under therigger by the force of the water.
  10. Adefect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use.
    • 1915,W.S. Maugham, “chapter 116”, inOf Human Bondage:
      -- "I suppose you wouldn't like to do alocum 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 thecrab in it?" he asked.
    • 1940,Horace Annesley Vachell,Little Tyrannies‎[1]:
      Arrested by the low price of another “desirable residence”, I asked “What's thecrab?” The agent assured me that there was nocrab. I fell in love with this house at sight. Happily, I discovered that it was reputed to behaunted.
  11. (dated) Anunsoldbook that is returned to thepublisher.
    • 1844, Albert Henry Payne,Payne's universum, or pictorial world, page99:
      […] the unsold copies may be returned to the original publisher , at a period fixed upon between Christmas and Easter; these returned copies are technically calledkrebse orcrabs, probably, from their walking backwards.[…] A says to B, "I have had eight thousand dollars' worth of your publications, three thousand werecrabs, that makes five thousand."
    • 1892,The Publishers Weekly, volume41, page709:
      […] unsold copies and settling the yearly accounts; while for the publisher begins the much dreaded season of "crabs," as[…]
  12. (Singapore, military, slang) On aninsignia, acoat of arms symbol representing a seniorrank.
  13. (derogatory, Blood slang) A member of theCrips.
Derived terms
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Translations
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crustacean
bad-tempered person
informal: infestation of pubic lice
aviation: ellipsis of crab angle—see alsocrab angle
  • Bulgarian:please add this translation if you can
rowing: position where the oar is pushed under the rigger
  • Bulgarian:please add this translation if you can
defect rendering an object inconvenient to use

Verb

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crab (third-person singular simple presentcrabs,present participlecrabbing,simple past and past participlecrabbed)

  1. (intransitive) Tofish for crabs.
  2. (transitive, US, slang) Toruin.
    • 1916,Ring W. Lardner, “Three Kings and a Pair”, inThe Saturday Evening Post‎[2]:
      I thought at the time that that little speech meant a savin' of eight dollars,[…] But the Missuscrabbed it a few minutes after her and Bess come in the room.
    • 1940,Raymond Chandler,Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published2010, page224:
      ‘Just so we understand each other,’ he said after a pause. ‘If youcrab this case, you'll be in a jam.’
  3. (intransitive) Tocomplain.
  4. (transitive) To complain about.
    • 2007, Douglas Newton,Dr. Odin, page24:
      Well, because of this state of things theycrabbed his scheme from the first, ridiculed it, wrote against it, spread broadcast a feeling of distrust.
  5. (intransitive) Todrift ormovesideways or toleeward(by analogy with the movement of a crab).
    • 2000, Dana Stabenow,Midnight Come Again,→ISBN, page251:
      Mutt stalked forward, matching him, step for step,crabbing sideways the way wolves do when they're going for the kill.
    • 2007, Pat DePaolo,The Beijing Games,→ISBN, page454:
      The aircraftcrabbed sideways in the cross-winds and leveled to horizontal.
    • 2015, Andrew Swanston,Waterloo: The Bravest Man,→ISBN:
      Another shouted order and again the squarescrabbed sideways.
  6. To move in a manner that involves keeping low and clinging to surfaces.
    • 2011, Robert Vivian,The Least Cricket of Evening, page108:
      Time slowed down then, became liquid in the aftermath of his grotesque, unfolding limbs; hecrabbed his way down the faded line, rocking back and forth in braces he would use all his life.
    • 2019, Ronan Frost,White Peak:
      Foot by foot, hecrabbed his way down another ninety feet of rock chimney until he stood on solid ground again, still very much alive.
  7. (transitive, film, television) To move (acamera)sideways.
    • 1997, Paul Kriwaczek,Documentary for the Small Screen, page109:
      If panning is not easy to make seem natural,crabbing the camera is even less like any action we perform with our eyes in the real world. There are a few circumstances in which we walk sideways:[…]
  8. (transitive, aviation) Tonavigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against anaircurrent in order to maintain a straight-line course.
  9. (obsolete, World War I) To fly slightly off the straight-line course towards an enemy aircraft, as themachine guns on early aircraft did not allow firing through thepropeller disk.
  10. (rare) Toback out of something.
    • 1960,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XV, inJeeves in the Offing, London:Herbert Jenkins,→OCLC:
      “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 himcrab the act.
  11. (zoology, ofsugar gliders) To make a loud, rapid rattling sound when scared, stressed, or agitated.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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FromMiddle Englishcrabbe(“wild apple”), ofGermanic origin, plausibly fromNorth Germanic, cognate with Swedish dialectskrabba(“sour apple, apple cart”).

Noun

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crab (pluralcrabs)

  2. Thecrab apple or wild apple.
    • 1610–1611 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene ii]:
      I prithee, let me bring thee wherecrabs grow;
      And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
    • 1895,Robert Blatchford, “The New Party in the North”, in Andrew Reid, editor,The New Party Described by Some of its Members‎[3], London: Hodder Brothers, page24:
      Just as by cultivation the acrid wildcrab has been developed into the beautiful and luscious apple, may the unripe, ill-fed, neglected wild fruits of the fields and slums be developed into pure and noble and beautiful men and women.
  3. The tree bearing crab apples, which has adogbane-like bitter bark with medical use.
  4. Acudgel made of the wood of thecrab tree; acrabstick.
    • 1741,David Garrick,The Lying Valet:
      She swore to such things , that I could do nothing but swear and call names : upon which out bolts her husband upon me , with a fine tapercrab in his hand and fell upon me with such violence , that , being half delirious , I made a full confession
  5. A movablewinch orwindlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc.
  6. A form of windlass, or gearedcapstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc.
  7. A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn.
  8. A claw for anchoring a portable machine.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Verb

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crab (third-person singular simple presentcrabs,present participlecrabbing,simple past and past participlecrabbed)

  1. (obsolete) Toirritate, make surly or sour
  2. To beill-tempered; tocomplain or find fault.
  3. (British dialect) Tocudgel or beat, as with acrabstick
    • 1639, John Fletcher,Monsieur Thomas:
      Get you to bed, drab, courage Or l'll socrab your shoulders!
    • 1935, Jack Molyneux, John Fairfax-Blakeborough,Thirty Years a Hunt Servant: Being the Memories of Jack Molyneux, page161:
      I was on a horse named The Skipper, a perfect terror to ride when he was in a bad humour, which he invariably was; nevertheless he was a splendid hunter and I nevercrabbed him.
    • 2021, H. De Vere Stacpoole,Vanderdecken:
      The Shiremans had a down on him over stores he'd condemned as not fit for dogs, let alone able seamen, and they'd got wind he was a socialist, and theycrabbed him all over the shipping companies' offices.
  4. (obsolete, transitive) Tooffend orinsult.
    • (Can wedate this quote by Packman's Paternoster and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      If I think one thing and speak another, / I will bothcrab Christ and our Ladie His mother.
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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Possibly a corruption of the genus nameCarapa

Noun

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crab (pluralcrabs)

  1. The tree speciesCarapa guianensis, native to South America.
Derived terms
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Etymology 4

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Fromcarabiner.

Noun

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crab (pluralcrabs)

  1. (informal)Clipping ofcarabiner, modified based on likening the shape of a carabiner to a crab's claw.

Further reading

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  • “crab”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
  • crab on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Weisenberg, Michael (2000)The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University.→ISBN
  • Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of the English Language. International Edition. combined withBritannica World Language Dictionary. Chicago-London etc., Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc., 1965.

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Inherited fromOld Englishcrabba.

Noun

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crab

  1. alternative form ofcrabbe(“crab”)

Etymology 2

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OfGermanic origin, plausibly fromNorth Germanic.

Noun

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crab

  1. alternative form ofcrabbe(“crabapple”)

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed fromFrenchcrabe.

Noun

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crab m (pluralcrabi)

  1. crab

Declension

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singularplural
indefinitedefiniteindefinitedefinite
nominative-accusativecrabcrabulcrabicrabii
genitive-dativecrabcrabuluicrabicrabilor
vocativecrabulecrabilor

See also

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