CRABBING
CRAB
gripe, bitch, grouse, crab, beef, squawk, bellyache, holler
(verb) complain; “What was he hollering about?”
crab
(verb) fish for crab
crab
(verb) scurry sideways like a crab
crab
(verb) direct (an aircraft) into a crosswind
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Verb
crabbing
present participle of crab
Noun
crabbing (usually uncountable, plural crabbings)
The act or art of catching crabs.
(falconry) The fighting of hawks with each other.
(wool manufacture) A process of scouring cloth between rolls in a machine.
Source: Wiktionary
Crab"bing, n.
1. The act or art of catching crabs.
2. (Falconry)
Definition: The foghting of hawks with each other.
3. (Woolem Manuf.)
Definition: A process of scouring clocth be
CRAB
Crab (krb), n. Etym: [AS. crabba; akin to D. krab, G. krabbe, krebs,
Icel. krabbi, Sw. krabba, Dan. krabbe, and perh. to E. cramp. Cf.
Crawfish.]
1. (Zoöl.)
Definition: One of the brachyuran Crustacea. They are mostly marine, and
usually have a broad, short body, covered with a strong shell or
carapace. The abdomen is small and curled up beneath the body.
Note: The name is applied to all the Brachyura, and to certain
Anomura, as the hermit crabs. Formerly, it was sometimes applied to
Crustacea in general. Many species are edible, the blue crab of the
Atlantic coast being one of the most esteemed. The large European
edible crab is Cancer padurus. Soft-shelled crabs are blue crabs that
have recently cast their shells. See Cancer; also, Box crab, Fiddler
crab, Hermit crab, Spider crab, etc., under Box, Fiddler. etc.
2. The zodiacal constellation Cancer.
3. Etym: [See Crab, a.] (Bot.)
Definition: A crab apple; -- so named from its harsh taste.
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring
owl. Shak.
4. A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick. [Obs.]
Garrick.
5. (Mech.)
(a) A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with
derricks, etc.
(b) A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into
dock, etc.
(c) A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn.
(d) A claw for anchoring a portable machine. Calling crab. (Zoöl.)
See Fiddler., n., 2.
– Crab apple, a small, sour apple, of several kinds; also, the tree
which bears it; as, the European crab apple (Pyrus Malus
var.sylvestris); the Siberian crab apple (Pyrus baccata); and the
American (Pyrus coronaria).
– Crab grass. (Bot.) (a) A grass (Digitaria, or Panicum,
sanguinalis); -- called also finger grass. (b) A grass of the genus
Eleusine (E. Indica); -- called also dog's-tail grass, wire grass,
etc.
– Crab louse (Zoöl.), a species of louse (Phthirius pubis),
sometimes infesting the human body.
– Crab plover (Zoöl.), an Asiatic plover (Dromas ardeola).
– Crab's eyes, or Crab's stones, masses of calcareous matter found,
at certain seasons of the year, on either side of the stomach of the
European crawfishes, and formerly used in medicine for absorbent and
antacid purposes; the gastroliths.
– Crab spider (Zoöl.), one of a group of spiders (Laterigradæ); --
called because they can run backwards or sideways like a crab.
– Crab tree, the tree that bears crab applies.
– Crab wood, a light cabinet wood obtained in Guiana, which takes a
high polish. McElrath.
– To catch a crab (Naut.), a phrase used of a rower: (a) when he
fails to raise his oar clear of the water; (b) when he misses the
water altogether in making a stroke.
Crab (krb), v. t.
1. To make sour or morose; to embitter. [Obs.]
Sickness sours or crabs our nature. Glanvill.
2. To beat with a crabstick. [Obs.] J. Fletcher.
Crab, v. i. (Naut.)
Definition: To drift sidewise or to leeward, as a vessel. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
Crab, a. Etym: [Prob. from the same root as crab, n.]
Definition: Sour; rough; austere.
The crab vintage of the neighb'ring coast. Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition