Crab

Definition: Crab

Crab

Noun

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

2. A quarrelsome grouch.

3. The edible flesh of any of various crabs.

4. Infests the pubic region of the human body.

5. A stroke of the oar that either misses the water or digs too deeply; "he caught a crab and lost the race".

Verb

1. Fish for crab.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "crab" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references)

Fine Arts

Literature

Slang in 1811

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Crab

Difficulty

Crab; curmudgeon.

Discontent

In high dudgeon, in a fume, in the sulks, in the dumps, in bad humor; glum, sulky; sour as a crab; soured, sore; out of humor, out of temper.

Sullenness

Adjective: sullen, sulky; ill-tempered, ill-humored, ill-affected, ill-disposed; grouty; in an ill temper, in a bad temper, in a shocking temper, in an ill humor, in a bad humor, in a shocking humor; out of temper, out of humor; knaggy, torvous, crusty, crabbed; sour, sour as a crab; surly; (discourteous).

Crosswords: Crab

Romanian (crab).

Kennedy's as dead as that crab meat, the government's alive and breathing (JFK; writing credit: Jim Marrs; Jim Garrison)

And I always get a big tip. But afterwards, uh oh, they crab, crab, crab (Harvey; writing credit: Mary Chase;)

And, as choice of drinks, we have Mountain Dew or crab juice (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge)

Stop hinting around and let him have your crab already (Charmed; writing credit: Colman deKay)

And wouldn't you rather be a left-handed flea, a crab on a slab at the bottom of the sea, a newt on the root of a banyan tree, a fig on twig in Galilee, than a man who never learns how to be free (Pippin: His Life and Times; writing credit: Roger O. Hirson)

Decorator Crab (1969)

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

The Crab (1917)

Crab Cove (2002)

King Crab (1980)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

References

• The 2003-2008 World Outlook for Fish and Crab Sticks (reference)

  (more reference examples)

Books

• A House for Hermit Crab (reference)

• Bob Chinn's Crab House Cookbook (reference)

• Crab (Northwest Homegrown Cookbook Series) (reference)

• Crab With the Golden Claws (Adventures of Tintin) (reference)

• Does Anyone Know Where a Hermit Crab Goes (reference)

  (more book examples)

Periodicals

• Crab (reference)

• Crab Creek Review (reference)

  (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies

• Attack of the Crab Monsters (reference)

• Alaska King Crab Cowboys (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Crab Rangoon (reference)

• Queen Crab (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Deinocerites has characteristic pouches on the sides of the head. Members of this genus breed only in crab holes containing standing water. Credit: CDC.

Peering into the Heart of the Crab Nebula. Credit: NASA.

Probing the mysterious heart of the Crab Nebula, the tattered remains of an exploding star, ... Credit: NASA.

The Crab Nebula, M1, as imaged by HST and the Mount Palomar telescope. Credit: NASA.

Close-up of the "Southern Crab Nebula" (He2-104). Credit: NASA.

Photo #3 of 8. Having reached the "buster" molt stage, a Maryland blue crab , Callinectes sapidus, sheds its shell. The genus and species mean tasty beautiful swimmer. Credit: America's Coastlines.

Photo #4 of 8. Having reached the "buster" molt stage, a Maryland blue crab , Callinectes sapidus, sheds its shell. The genus and species mean tasty beautiful swimmer. Credit: America's Coastlines.

King crab caught in trawl net in Chatham Strait. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.

Scientist holding crab. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.

Crab pots ready for deployment. Credit: Fisheries.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Economic History

China

Alaskan crab is well-liked here and is considered a delicacy by trades, hotels and consumers. (references)

Namibia

There also are smaller but significant quantities of sole, squid, deepsea crab, rock lobster, and tuna. (references)

Netherlands

Products with potential that can be supplied by the United States include fresh/frozen squid, prawns, shrimp and crab. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expressions using "crab": Alaska crab ♦ Alaska king crab ♦ alaskan king crab ♦ american crab apple ♦ american lady crab ♦ asian horseshoe crab ♦ Bechtel crab ♦ Blue crab ♦ boston crab ♦ Box crab ♦ calico crab ♦ calling crab ♦ cancer the Crab ♦ cherry crab ♦ core crab ♦ crab angle ♦ crab apple ♦ crab cactus ♦ crab cocktail ♦ Crab grass ♦ crab legs ♦ crab Louis ♦ crab louse ♦ crab nebula ♦ Crab Orchard ♦ Crab plover ♦ Crab spider ♦ Crab tree ♦ crab wherry ♦ Crab wood ♦ cultivated crab apple ♦ Diogenes' crab ♦ do the crab ♦ dungeness crab ♦ Edible crab ♦ english lady crab ♦ european spider crab ♦ fiddler crab ♦ Fighting crab ♦ flowering crab ♦ garland crab ♦ giant crab ♦ Green crab ♦ hermit crab ♦ Horse crab ♦ horsehoe crab ♦ horseshoe crab ♦ Iowa crab ♦ japanese crab ♦ Jonah crab ♦ kelp crab ♦ king crab ♦ lady crab ♦ Land crab ♦ mantis crab ♦ Masked crab ♦ Molucca crab ♦ mud crab ♦ nut crab ♦ Oregon crab apple ♦ oyster crab ♦ palm crab ♦ pea crab ♦ porcelain crab ♦ porcupine crab ♦ prairie crab ♦ purse crab ♦ racing crab ♦ river crab ♦ robber crab ♦ rock crab ♦ sand crab ♦ scavenger crab ♦ sentinel crab ♦ shore crab ♦ siberian crab ♦ siberian crab apple ♦ soft crab ♦ soldier crab ♦ sour as a crab ♦ southern crab apple ♦ spider crab ♦ stone crab ♦ strawberry crab ♦ swimming crab ♦ To catch a crab ♦ Tree crab ♦ Triangular crab ♦ Uowa crab apple ♦ velvet crab ♦ western crab apple ♦ wild crab. Additional references.

Beginning with "crab": crab-apple, crab-apples, crab-cake, crab-cakes, crab-crawled, crab-eater, crab-eating dog, crab-eating fox, crab-eating macaque, crab-eating opossum, crab-eating raccoon, crab-eating seal, crab-faced, crab-hunting, crab-infested, crab-lice, crab-like, crab-louse, crab-men, crab-walked, crab-wise, crab-yaw, crab-yaws.

Ending with "crab": fiddle-crab, Glass-crab, land-crab, mud-crab, soldier-crab.

Albanian

qahem (beef, bitch, cavil, complain, grouse, repine, yammer), ndërhyj (barge into, butt in, cut in, intercede, interfere, intermeddle, interpose, interrupt, intervene, intrude, meddle, mediate, monkey, push in), mollë e egër, kritikoj (animadvert, attack, censure, criticise, criticize, hit, pan, slam), grindavec (arguer, cantankerous, captious, caviller, contentious, crank, croaker, disputant, fractious, fretful, ill tempered, noisy person, peevish, pettish, quarrelsome, spitfire, wrangler), gaforre, ankoj (complaint, grieve), çikrik (bobbin, drum, hoist, reel, spinning wheel, spool, winch, windlass). (various references)

Arabic 

‏غضب (aggravate, anger, annoy, be angry, be irritated, chafe, dander, displease, embitter, enrage, exasperate, exasperation, fire, flounce, fret, fume, gall, get on his nerves, get smb.'s goat, go mad, grumpiness, harrow, heat, incense, indignation, inflame, infuriate, irascibility, ire, irritate, irritation, itch, jitter, lose one's shirt, mad, madden, miff, nettle, offend, outcry, outrage, peeve, pet, pique, pout, provoke, rage, resentment, rile, rough, ruffle, seethe, soreness, sour, spite, spleen, twit, vex), ‏تفاح بري, ‏تذمر (clamor, clamour, complain, complaint, croak, groan, grouch, grouchiness, growl, grudge, grumble, murmur, mutter, nag, plain, repine, snort, whimper), ‏سلطعون (lobster), ‏سرطان (cancer, carcinoma), ‏طيران منحرف, ‏رافعة أثقال, ‏شخص سيئ السمعة, ‏برج السرطان (cancer). (various references)

Asturian

cámbaru. (various references)

Bulgarian 

срамна въшка, скрипец (block, donkey engine, garnet, pulley, reel), раздразням (exasperate, heat, peeve, pip, pique, ruffle), краб, критикувам (animadvert, bad-mouth, criticize, fault, nibble, pick at, run down), карам наклонено, киселица, кисел човек (sorehead), оплаквам се (bitch, complain, growl, grumble, lament, moan, quarrel, report, squeal, tick), мърморя (burble, chunter, gripe, grouse, growl, grumble, grunt, murmur, mutter), мъча се да осуетя, морски рак, ек (grumble, peal, roll), ловя раци, дива ябълка. (various references)

Cebuano

alimango. (various references)

Chamorro

panglao. (various references)

Chinese 

螃蟹 (crabs), 螃 , 蟹 , 蜅 (thatch). (various references)

Cornish

canker. (various references)

Czech

rak (crayfish), mrzout (bear, crosspatch, grouch, misery), krab. (various references)

Danish

krabbe. (various references)

Dutch

krab. (various references)

Esperanto

krabo. (various references)

Faeroese

krabbi. (various references)

Farsi 

کج خلق (Irritable, Morose, Peevish, Petulant, Querulous, Snappish, Sullen, Techy, Tedious, Testy), عصبانی کردن (Blood, Blowup, Enrage, Irritate, Mad, Madden), عصبانی شدن , خرچنگ گرفتن , خرچنگ (Cancer), ادم ترشرو (Scowler), باعث تحریک وعصبانیت شدن , برج سرطان . (various references)

Finnish

uimataskurapu-laji (mud crab), taskurapu-laji (Dana swimcrab, Dungeness crab, Jonah crab), satiainen (crab louse, pubic louse), rantataskurapu (common shore crab, green crab, green shore crab), molukkirapu (horseshoe crab), kuningasrapu (Alaska deepsea crab, Japanese crab, king crab), kivirapu-laji (Murray king crab, Subantarctic stone crab), keernarauta (core crab, core grid, core iron, core rod, core wire), keernan tukirunko (core crab, core grid, core iron, core rod, core wire), isohämähäkkirapu (sea spider, spider crab, spinous spider crab, spiny crab), isoabaloni (red crab). (various references)

French

crabe. (various references)

Frisian

krab. (various references)

German

Krabbe (crocket, mite, prawn, shrimp, tot), nörgeln (carp, cavil, grizzle, grouch, grouse, growl, grumble, moan, nag, niggle, to cavil, to grouse, to nag), krebs (barnacle, cancer, canker, crawfish, crayfish, crustacean). (various references)

Greek 

κυλιόμενο βαγονάκι (trolley), καβούρασ, καβουράκι, συλλαμβάνω καβούρασ, περιστρεφόμενη τροχαλία (travelling winch), παρέκκλισις, επικρίνω (animadvert, carp, censure, criticise, criticism, criticize, decry, fulminate, objurgate, pan, reprove, scarify, score, upbraid), δύστροποσ άνθρωποσ. (various references)

Hebrew 

לרטון (grouch, grouse, grumble, nag, repine), סרטן (cancer, prawn). (various references)

Hungarian

tengeri rák (lobster, sea crayfish, shrimp), bírálat (censure, criticism, judgement, judgment, review, stricture). (various references)

Icelandic

krabbi. (various references)

Indonesian

ketam, kepiting. (various references)

Irish

portáin (of crab). (various references)

Italian

carrello (bogie, caddie, carriage, Dolly, runner, trolley, truck, under carriage, undercarriage), verricello scorrevole (travelling winch), verricello mobile (travelling winch), trolley (collector, trolley), mela selvatica, granchio (blunder, cancer, crayfish), deriva atipica. (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

蟹 , クラフト紙 (clan, cleaner, cleaning, cleek, club, club face, club head, club sandwich, clubhouse, craft paper, cranberry, crank, cream, cream sauce, cream sundae, cream-filled roll, Creap, creek, creeping inflation, diseased persons, dry cleaning, finish shooting, icecream soda, Kleene, laundry service, startfilming). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

かに, クラブ (club). (various references)

Kongo

nkala. (various references)

Korean 

게 (crabs). (various references)

Manx

partan, far-ymmyrt. (various references)

Maori

paapaka. (various references)

Norwegian

krabbe. (various references)

Papiamen

kangreu. (various references)

Pig Latin

abcray.(various references)

Portuguese

caranguejo (crawfish, crayfish). (various references)

Provencal

cranc. (various references)

Romanian

crab, zodia cancerulu, rac (cancer, corkscrew), prinde crabi, plânge mereu, persoanã acrã, necãji (anger, badger, bait, bother, depress, dishearten, endeavor, endeavour, fret, gall, grieve, irritate, lark, molest, rile, spite, tease, trouble, vex, worry), mãr pãdure, irita (aggravate, annoy, chafe, exacerbate, exasperate, fret, heat, irritate, nettle, pique, rasp, relax, ruffle, stroke smb.'s hair the wrong way, vex), homar. (various references)

Russian 

краб (snot crab). (various references)

Samoan

paa. (various references)

Scottish

rudhag , rùdhag (a crab), partan (a crab), faiche (a crab, a green by a house, field). (various references)

Sepedi

tlapakgerere. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zakerati (carp, nag, nibble, scold), kritikovati (castigate, criticize, fault, pan, piss, put down), kraba (hermit crab), dizalica (crane, derrick, elevator, hoist, jack, jack-lift, jenny, lifter, shear-legs, sheer-legs), čekrk (gin, tackle, winch, winder, windlass). (various references)

Shona

gakandye. (various references)

Spanish

cangrejo (crayfish). (various references)

Sranan

krabu. (various references)

Swahili

kaa ya pwani. (various references)

Swazi

ín-khala. (various references)

Swedish

krabba (scrum, scrummage). (various references)

Thai

ปูจำพวก Uca ซึ่งมีก้ามใหญ่ข้างหนึ่ง (fiddler crab). (various references)

Turkish

yengeç, yüzüne gözüne bulaştırmak (boggle, botch, bungle, fluff, foozle, goof up, hash, hash up, make a hash of, make a mess of, make cock-up of smth., mess things up, mess up, muddle, scamp), vinç (crane, Derrick, gantry crane, hoist, hoisting crane, hoisting engine, lifter, lifting jack, winch, windlass), uçağı yan rüzgâra yönlendirmek, sızlanma (beef, complaining, gripe, groan, growl, whimper, whine), pavurya, mızmızlanmak (carp, whine), mızmızlık, mızmız (crybaby, fussy, grouchy, hesitant, kicker, pernickety, picky, querulous, sluggish), kusur bulmak (arraign, carp, cast reflection on smb., cavil, criticize, fault, find fault, pick at, pick holes in, pick on, reflect on, reflect upon, reprehend), homurdanma (grouch, grumble, grumbling, mutter, snarl, snort), her şeye kusur bulan kimse (faultfinder), berbat etmek (ball up, bitch, bitch up, botch, bring to ruin, bungle, cast a cloud on smth., cloud, fluff, make nonsense of, mess things up, mess up, piss on smth., play the deuce with, ruin, screw up, spoil, vitiate). (various references)

Ukrainian

яблуко-кислиця, краб (soldier), либідка, буркотун (carper, catamaran, fuddy-duddy, grouch, grumbler, killjoy, nagger, rater, stammerer), дряпати кігтями, дика яблуня. (various references)

Vietnamese 

cuộc nói chuyện phiếm tay giỏi (crab-pot), vết rạn (crab-pot), vết nẻ tiếng kêu răng rắc (crab-pot), vết nứt (crab-pot, cranny), vụ nạy cửa ăn trộm (crab-pot), thoáng cuộc nói chuyện vui (crab-pot), lời nói khoác (crab-pot), đánh bài (crab-pot). (various references)

Welsh

cranc. (various references)

allal. (various references)

cancer. (various references)

crabba. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "crab": crabbed, crabbedness, crabbednesses, crabber, crabbers, crabbier, crabbiest, crabbily, crabbing, crabby, crabgrass, crabgrasses, crabmeat, crabmeats, crabs, crabstick, crabsticks, crabwise. (additional references)

Words containing "crab": execrable, execrableness, execrablenesses, execrably, hardscrabble, scrabble, scrabbled, scrabbler, scrabblers, scrabbles, scrabblier, scrabbliest, scrabbling, scrabbly. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Crab" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: carb, Carbh, Carbi, caribb, chrib, coab, Corbar, cra, crabb, crabba, crabe, craby, crad, craf, crah, Crai, Craib, craj, Crak, cral, Craobh, crau, Crda, creb, crebo, cribb, cribu, criv, crob, crobe, crta, crub, Csabd, Ctab, cyab, icraf, khrab, krab, Krabi, Kreb, krib, krob, rca, sreb, Vrba. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: carb.

-1 letter: arb, arc, bar, bra, cab, car.

-2 letters: ab, ar, ba.

+1 letter: acerb, baric, brace, brach, bract, caber, carbo, carbs, carob, cobra, crabs, rabic.

+2 letters: arabic, backer, bardic, bicarb, boxcar, braced, bracer, braces, brachs, bracts, branch, breach, broach, buckra, cabers, camber, carbon, carbos, carboy, caribe, carobs, cobras, corban, crabby, crambe, crambo, fabric, rubace, scarab.

+3 letters: abreact, abroach, acerber, acerbic, acrobat, aerobic, arabica, ascribe, baccara, backers, baldric, barchan, barrack, barytic, batcher, bawdric, bearcat, becharm, becrawl, bicarbs, blacker, boraces, boracic, boxcars, bracero, bracers, braches, brachet, brachia, bracing, bracken, bracket, bracted, branchy, breccia, brecham, brechan, brocade, buckram, buckras, cabaret, caliber, calibre, cambers, cambric, carabao, carabid, carabin, caramba, carbarn, carbide, carbine, carbons, carbora, carboys, caribes, caribou, catbird, cerebra, chamber, ciboria, clabber, clamber, corbans, corbina, cordoba, crabbed, crabber, crambes, crambos, crowbar, crybaby, cudbear, curable, curably, embrace, fabrics, macaber, macabre, rockaby, rubaces, runback, scarabs, scribal, subrace, unbrace, zebraic.