[crab] n, often attrib [ME crabbe, fr. OE crabba; akin to OHG krebiz crab, OE ceorfan to carve--more at carve] (bef. 12c) 1: any of numerous chiefly marine broadly built decapod crustaceans: a: any of a group (Brachyura) with a short broad usu. flattened carapace, a small abdomen that curls forward beneath the body, short antennae, and the anterior pair of limbs modified as grasping pincers b: any of various crustaceans of a group (Anomura) resembling true crabs in the more or less reduced condition of the abdomen
2. cap: cancer 1 3 pl: infestation with crab lice
4: the angular difference between an aircraft's course and the heading necessary to make that course in the presence of a crosswind
[2]crab vb crabbed ; crab.bing vt (1918) 1: to cause to move sideways or in an indirect or diagonal manner; specif: to head (an airplane) into a crosswind to counteract drift
2: to subject to crabbing ~ vi 1 a (1): to move sideways indirectly or diagonally (2): to crab an airplane b: to scuttle or scurry sideways
2: to fish for crabs -- crab.ber n [3]crab n [ME crabbe, perh. fr. crabbe [1]crab] (14c): crab apple [4]crab n (1580): an ill-tempered person: crosspatch [5]crab vb crabbed ; crab.bing [ME crabben, prob. back-formation fr. crabbed] vt (1662) 1: to make sullen: sour "old age has crabbed his nature"
2: to complain about peevishly
3: spoil, ruin ~ vi: carp, grouse "always ~s about the weather" -- crab.ber n