Crab

noun crabs

1. countable, uncountable Any 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. 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.
3. countable, uncountable Any of various crustacean in the infraorder Anomura, usually excluding squat lobsters. Despite its name, the hermit crab is not a true crab!
4. countable, uncountable A horseshoe crab.
5. countable, uncountable A bad-tempered person. She so obviously enjoyed every second of the concert that only the most stubborn crab could not have been warmed by her charm.
6. countable, informal, uncountable 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.
7. abbreviation, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of crab angle.crab angle The pilot had to hold fifteen degrees of crab during the approach to keep her plane from getting blown off the localizer course.
8. countable, slang, uncountable A playing card with the rank of three.
9. countable, uncountable A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water.
10. countable, uncountable A defect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use. -- "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 pl
11. countable, dated, uncountable An unsold book that is returned to the publisher. […] the unsold copies may be returned to the original publisher , at a period fixed upon between Christmas and Easter; these returned copies are technically called krebse or crabs, probably, from their walking backwards. […] A says to B, "I have had eight thousand dollars' worth of your publications
12. Singapore, countable, slang, uncountable On an insignia, a coat of arms symbol representing a senior rank.
13. countable, derogatory, uncountable A member of the Crips.
14. countable, informal, uncountable A pubic louse. Pthirus pubis PUBIC LOUSE, aka CRABS

verb crabs · crabbing · crabbed

1. intransitive To fish for crabs.
2. US, slang, transitive To ruin. I thought at the time that that little speech meant a savin' of eight dollars,[…] But the Missus crabbed it a few minutes after her and Bess come in the room.
3. intransitive To complain. “The thing to do is to forget about the heat,” said Tom impatiently. “You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it.”
4. transitive To complain about. Well, because of this state of things they crabbed his scheme from the first, ridiculed it, wrote against it, spread broadcast a feeling of distrust.
5. intransitive To drift or move sideways or to leeward (by analogy with the movement of a crab). Mutt stalked forward, matching him, step for step, crabbing sideways the way wolves do when they're going for the kill.
6. To move in a manner that involves keeping low and clinging to surfaces. Time slowed down then, became liquid in the aftermath of his grotesque, unfolding limbs; he crabbed his way down the faded line, rocking back and forth in braces he would use all his life.
7. transitive To move (a camera) sideways. 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 To navigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against an air current in order to maintain a straight-line course.
9. World War I, obsolete 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.
10. rare To back out of something. “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.
11. To make a loud, rapid rattling sound when scared, stressed, or agitated.

noun crabs

1. A crab apple or wild apple. I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow; And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
2. A 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. 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 taper crab in his hand and fell upon me with such violence , that , being half delirious , I made a full confession
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.

Similar: crab apple, crab apple

verb crabs · crabbing · crabbed

1. obsolete To irritate, make surly or sour
2. To be ill-tempered; to complain or find fault.
3. British, dialectal To cudgel or beat, as with a crabstick Get you to bed, drab, courage Or l'll so crab your shoulders!
4. obsolete, transitive To offend or insult. If I think one thing and speak another, / I will both crab Christ and our Ladie His mother.

noun crabs

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

noun crabs

1. abbreviation, clipping, informal Clipping of carabiner, modified based on likening the shape of a carabiner to a crab's claw.carabiner

noun Crabs

1. A unit for measuring the intensity of astrophysical X-ray sources, defined as the intensity of the Crab Nebula at the corresponding X-ray photon energy.

proper noun the Crab

1. The constellation and zodiacal sign Cancer. This Crab, I confeſſe, did ill become the heavens[.]