crab

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[edit] English

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A crab

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

From Middle English crabbe, from Old English crabba, from Proto-Germanic *krabbô (cf. Dutch krab, Low German Krabb, Swedish krabba), from *krabbōnan 'to creep, crawl' (cf. East Frisian kraabje, Low German/Dutch krabben, German (Bavarian) krepsen), from Proto-Indo-European *grobʰ- 'to scratch, claw at', variant of *gerebʰ-. More at carve.

[edit] Noun

crab (plural crabs)

  1. (zoology) 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. A bad-tempered person.
  3. (in plural crabs, informal) An infestation of pubic lice.
    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. Short for carabiner.
  6. (rowing) A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water.
[edit] Derived terms
terms derived from "crab"
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
crustacean
bad-tempered person
informal: infestation of pubic lice

[edit] Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To fish for crabs.
  2. (intransitive) To complain.
  3. (intransitive) (by analogy with the movement of a crab) To move sideways of an aircraft, such as a glider.
  4. (transitive) (by analogy with the movement of a crab) To navigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against an air current in order to maintain a straight-line course.
  5. (obsolete) In World War 1, 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.
  6. (rare) To back out of something.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XV:
      “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.
[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Etymology 2

Germanic: plausibly from Scandinavian, cognate with Swedish dialect scrabba

[edit] 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.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Derived terms

[edit] 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

[edit] Etymology 3

EB1911 - Volume 01 - Page 001 - 1.svg This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this word, please add it to the page as described here.

- possibly a corruption of the Latin genus name Carapa

[edit] Noun

crab (plural crabs)

  1. The tree species Carapa guianensis, native of South America.
[edit] Derived terms

[edit] 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.


[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Romanian

[edit] Etymology

From French crabe.

[edit] Noun

crab m. (plural crabi)

  1. crab

[edit] See also

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