/ kræb; NAmE / noun
1.
[ C ] a sea creature with a hard shell, eight legs and two pincers (= curved and pointed arms for catching and holding things). Crabs move sideways on land.
—see also hermit crab
2.
[ U ] meat from a crab, used for food :
dressed crab
3.
crabs ( informal ) the condition caused by having lice (called crab lice ) in the hair around the genitals
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English crabba , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch krabbe , and more distantly to Dutch kreeft and German Krebs ; also to crab in the sense to grumble.