# crab

Pronunciation: say "KRAB" /kɹæb/

## Noun

1. A crustacean with a hard shell, a flat body, and five pairs of legs, the front pair formed into claws; also similar animals such as hermit crabs.
   - Simple: A sea or shore animal with a hard shell, ten legs and two large claws.
   - _The crab raised its claws when the diver reached toward it._
   - _At low tide, dozens of crabs scurried across the exposed flats._
2. The edible meat of the crustacean, served as food.
   - Simple: The meat from inside a crab, eaten as food.
   - _The chef served crab steamed and cracked in the shell._
   - _He spread sweet crab over warm toast for an appetizer._
3. A habitually bad-tempered or irritable person.
   - Simple: A person who is often grumpy and easily annoyed.
   - _The old crab next door shouts whenever a ball lands in his yard._
   - _She turns into a crab whenever she misses her afternoon coffee._
7. The condition of being infested with pubic lice (Pthirus pubis), which live mainly in the hair around the genitals. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A case of tiny insects living in the hair around the private parts.
   - _After days of itching, he realized he had picked up crabs._
   - _The doctor confirmed a case of crabs and prescribed a medicated wash._
5. A horseshoe crab: a marine arthropod with a domed, horseshoe-shaped shell and a long, pointed tail, not a true crab.
   - Simple: A sea animal with a hard, dome-shaped shell and a long, spiky tail, not a true crab.
   - _The crab she found at the tide line had a horseshoe-shaped shell and a sharp, spikelike tail._
   - _Each May the horseshoe crabs come ashore to spawn, and shorebirds gather to eat the eggs the crabs leave in the sand._
6. A crab apple: a small, sour apple that grows wild, or the tree that bears it.
   - Simple: A small, sour wild apple, or the tree it grows on.
   - _Every fall she picks the little sour fruit from the old crab by the barn and boils it into jelly._
   - _Villagers once pressed wild crabs into a rough, tangy cider._
11. In rowing, a mishap in which an oar blade is caught by the water and cannot be withdrawn cleanly, checking the boat and sometimes forcing the oar under the rigger.
   - Simple: In rowing, a mistake where the oar gets stuck in the water and cannot be pulled out cleanly.
   - _The novice caught a crab fifty meters from the line._
   - _A crab near the start cost them several boat lengths._
12. In aviation, the angle by which an aircraft's nose is pointed upwind of its ground track to offset a crosswind during a landing approach.
   - Simple: In flying, the angle a plane's nose is turned into the wind so it can still land straight.
   - _On final approach the captain set a noticeable crab to counter the gusting wind._
   - _The instructor explained how much crab the landing would require._

## Verb

4. To fish for crabs, typically using baited lines, traps, or nets.
   - Simple: To catch crabs, usually with bait, lines, or nets.
   - _Every summer they crab along the tidal creeks at dawn._
   - _He prefers to crab from a small boat rather than the pier._
8. To complain or grumble in a bad-tempered way.
   - Simple: To complain in a grumpy way.
   - _Passengers crab about delays no matter the cause._
   - _Stop crabbing and lend a hand with the dishes._
9. To move sideways or at an angle, as a crab does, or to move a camera sideways along a track.
   - Simple: To move sideways, like a crab.
   - _The small craft will crab toward the rocks in the cross-current._
   - _Without correction the canoe crabbed steadily downstream._
10. To move while keeping low and clinging to nearby surfaces.
   - Simple: To move while staying low and holding on to surfaces.
   - _Keeping low, the climber had to crab across the wet boulders, gripping every handhold she could find._
   - _He crabbed up the rock face, gripping each handhold tightly._
13. In aviation, to fly an aircraft angled sideways against an air current so that it holds a straight-line course.
   - Simple: In flying, to angle a plane sideways into the wind so it keeps moving in a straight line.
   - _The instructor showed her how to crab the aircraft against the crosswind on final approach._
   - _He crabbed the glider sideways to hold the ridge line._

## Verb

14. To back out of something one had agreed to. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To back out of a plan or promise.

## Noun

15. An unsold book returned to its publisher. *(dated)*
   - Simple: An unsold book sent back to the company that published it.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Informal short form of carabiner: a metal clip with a spring-loaded gate, used by climbers to link ropes, harnesses, and anchors.
- (verb) To spoil or ruin something, especially a plan or opportunity.
- (noun) A fault in an object that appears normal but makes it inconvenient or troublesome to use.
- (noun) A cudgel made from the wood of the crab tree.
- (noun) A geared winch or capstan used for hoisting heavy loads or hauling ships.
- (noun) A playing card of the rank three.
- (noun) In a ropewalk, a machine for stretching yarn taut while rope is being made.
- (noun) A claw used to anchor a portable machine in place during operation.
- (noun) A tree native to South America, Carapa guianensis.
- (verb) In early air combat, to angle an aircraft a little to one side of its path toward an enemy, because its guns could not shoot through the propeller.
- (verb) To put someone in a cross, sullen mood.
- (verb) To beat someone with a club, especially one cut from crab-apple wood.
- (verb) To affront someone or hurt their feelings.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7–15** — From Middle English "crabbe," from Old English "crabba" (crab, crayfish), going back through Proto-Germanic to a root *krabbōną meaning "to scratch" and an even older Proto-Indo-European root meaning "scratch, claw at." It is related to Dutch "krab" and Swedish "krabba," and possibly to English "creep."
**Meaning 6** — A Swedish dialect word, skrabba ("sour apple"), is a cognate. The English word came from Middle English crabbe, "wild apple," which is Germanic and plausibly North Germanic in origin.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/crab (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).