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crab

UK/ˈkɹab/ US/kɹæb/ fairly common british informal slang us
noun (7) verb (4)

noun

1.

decapod having eyes on short stalks and a broad flattened carapace with a small abdomen folded under the thorax and pincers

2.
3.

(astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Cancer

Synonyms
4.

the fourth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about June 21 to July 22

Synonyms
5.

the edible flesh of any of various crabs

Synonyms
6.
7.

a stroke of the oar that either misses the water or digs too deeply

  • “he caught a crab and lost the race”

verb

1.

direct (an aircraft) into a crosswind

2.
3.

fish for crab

4.

complain

  • “What was he hollering about?”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English crabbe, from Old English crabba (“crab; crayfish; cancer”), from Proto-West Germanic *krabbō, from Proto-Germanic *krabbô, from *krabbōną (“to scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *grobʰeh₂yéti (“to scratch”), a metathesised o-grade of *gerbʰ- (“to carve, scratch”). More at carve. Cognates See also Dutch krab, Low German Krabb, Danish krabbe, Swedish krabba. Further cognates with frequentative-infix are Saterland Frisian krabbelje (“to creep, crawl”), Dutch krabbelen (“to scratch”) and German krabbeln (“to crawl”). Possibly related to English creep and Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”) etc. Other origins have also been suggested, see Ancient Greek κάραβος (kárabos) (regarding the possibility of a substrate origin) and Persian خرچنگ (regarding possible ideophonic origin); compare also Old Armenian քարբ (kʻarb), German Krebs.

Phrases

  • Alaska crab
  • arrow crab
  • Asian blue crab
  • Atlantic ghost crab
  • black crab
  • black finger crab
  • blue crab
  • blue swimmer crab
  • cherry crab
  • Chinese crab
  • crab apple
  • garland crab

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.