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Definition crab

Etymology 1

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

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.
2. (uncountable) The meat of this crustacean, served as food; crabmeat
3. A bad-tempered person.
4. (in plural crabs, informal) An infestation of pubic lice (Pthirus pubis).
5. (slang) A playing card with the rank of three.
6. (rowing) A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water.
7. A defect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use.

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.
3. (intransitive) To complain.
4. (intransitive) To drift or move sideways or to leeward (by analogy with the movement of a crab).

2. (transitive) To navigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against an air current in order to maintain a straight-line course.
3. (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.
4. (rare) To back out of something.

Etymology 2

From Middle English crabbe (“wild apple”), of Germanic origin, plausibly from North Germanic, cognate with Swedish dialect scrabba.

Noun

crab (plural crabs)

1. The crab apple or wild apple.
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.
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.

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.
3. (British dialect) To cudgel or beat, as with a crabstick

Etymology 3

Possibly a corruption of the genus name Carapa

Noun

crab (plural crabs)

1. The tree species Carapa guianensis, native of South America.

Etymology 4

Alternation of carabiner

Noun

crab (plural crabs)

1. Short for carabiner.

Results 357 Words with the letters CRAB

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