*crab*

v. t. 1. To make sour or morose; to embitter. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Sickness sours or crabs our nature. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To beat with a crabstick. [ Obs. ] J. Fletcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. (Naut.)To drift sidewise or to leeward, as a vessel. Ham. Nav. Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Prob. from the same root as crab, n. ] Sour; rough; austere. [ 1913 Webster ]

The crab vintage of the neighb'ring coast. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Crab, n. ] 1. Characterized by or manifesting, sourness, peevishness, or moroseness; harsh; cross; cynical; -- applied to feelings, disposition, or manners. [ 1913 Webster ]

Crabbed age and youth can not live together. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Characterized by harshness or roughness; unpleasant; -- applied to things; as, a crabbed taste. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Obscure; difficult; perplexing; trying; as, a crabbed author. “Crabbed eloquence.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Cramped; irregular; as, crabbed handwriting.

-- Crab"bed*ly, adv. -- Crab"bed*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who catches crabs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or art of catching crabs. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Falconry) The fighting of hawks with each other. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Woolen Manuf.) A process of scouring cloth between rolls in a machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Somewhat sour or cross. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whips of the most crabbish Satyristes. Decker. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Crabbed; difficult, or perplexing. “Persius is crabby, because ancient.” Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) The cobia. (b) An etheostomoid fish of the southern United States (Hadropterus nigrofasciatus). (c) A small European heron (Ardea minuta, and other allied species). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The water rat. Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a sour, disagreeable countenance. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To move sidewise, as a crab. [ Jocular ]. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A stick, cane, or cudgel, made of the wood of the crab tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

See under Crab. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) A disease in the West Indies. It is a kind of ulcer on the soles of the feet, with very hard edges. See Yaws. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. execrabilis, exsecrabilis: cf. F. exécrable. See Execrate. ] Deserving to be execrated; accursed; damnable; detestable; abominable; as, an execrable wretch. “Execrable pride.” Hooker.

-- Ex"e*cra*ble*ness, n. -- Ex"e*cra*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The larval state (Phyllosoma) of the genus Palinurus and allied genera. It is remarkable for its strange outlines, thinness, and transparency. See Phyllosoma. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That can not be execrated enough. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Squilla.
Syn. -- Mantis shrimp. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A crab of the genus Panopœus (also written Panopeus). [ PJC ]

[ CF. Scramble. ] A Lenten dish, composed of eggs boiled hard, chopped, and seasoned with butter, salt, and pepper. Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of scrabbling; a moving upon the hands and knees; a scramble; also, a scribble. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Scrabbled p. pr. & vb. n. Scrabbling ] [ Freq. of scrape. Cf. Scramble, Scrawl, v. t. ] 1. To scrape, paw, or scratch with the hands; to proceed by clawing with the hands and feet; to scramble; as, to scrabble up a cliff or a tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now after a while Little-faith came to himself, and getting up made shift to scrabble on his way. Bunyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make irregular, crooked, or unmeaning marks; to scribble; to scrawl. [ 1913 Webster ]

David . . . scrabbled on the doors of the gate. 1. Sam. xxi. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To mark with irregular lines or letters; to scribble; as, to scrabble paper. [ 1913 Webster ]