crab
Etymology 1
From (etyl) crabbe, from (etyl)
Noun
(en noun)
A crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace.
*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=But Richmond
A bad-tempered person.
.
-
(label) A playing card with the rank of three.
(label) A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water.
A defect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use.
* 1915 , , (Of Human Bondage) , :
- — “I suppose you wouldn’t like to do a locum for a month on the South coast? Three guineas a week with board and lodging.” — “I wouldn’t mind,” said Philip. — “It’s at Farnley, in Dorsetshire. Doctor South. You’d have to go down at once; his assistant has developed mumps. I believe it’s a very pleasant place.” There was something in the secretary’s manner that puzzled Philip. It was a little doubtful. — “What’s the crab in it?” he asked.
* 1940 , (Horace Annesley Vachell), Little Tyrannies
- Arrested by the low price of another “desirable residence”, I asked “What’s the crab‘?” The agent assured me that there was no ‘ crab . I fell in love with this house at sight. Happily, I discovered that it was reputed to be haunted.
Derived terms
* Alaska crab, Alaska king crab, Alaskan king crab
* arrow crab
* black crab
* blue crab
* blue swimmer crab
* box-crab
* catch a crab
* Chinese crab
* Chinese mitten crab
* Christmas Island red crab
* circular crab
* coconut crab
* come off crabs
* crabbed
* crabber
* crabbery
* crabbing
* crabbish
* crabby
* crab cactus
* crab canon, crab-canon
* crab-catcher
* crab-claw
* crab-eater
* crab-eating
* crab face, crab-face
* crab-faced
* crab-favored, crab-favoured
* crab-farming
* crab-fish
* crab-grass, crabgrass
* crab-harrow
* crab-hole
* crab-holed
* crablet
* crab-like, crablike
* crabling
* crab-lobster
* crab louse, crab-louse
* crab mentality
* crabmeat
* Crab Nebula
* crabologist
* crab-pot
* crab-pot valve
* crab rock
* crab-roller
* crab’s claw
* crab’s eye, crab’s-eye
* crab-shell
* crab-sidle
* crab-snouted
* crab spider, crab-spider
* crab-step
* crab stick
* crab-stone
* crab-weed
* crabwise
* crab yaws
* cut a crab
* Dungeness crab
* fiddler crab
* flower crab
* ghost crab
* green crab
* halloween crab
* hard-shell crab
* hermit crab
* horseshoe crab
* Jonah crab
* king crab, king-crab
* lady crab
* land crab, land-crab
* mangrove crab
* mantis crab
* masked crab
* mole crab
* mud crab
* nobody-crab
* oyster crab
* palm crab
* pea crab, pea-crab
* porcelain crab
* purse crab
* racing crab
* river crab
* robber-crab
* rock crab
* sand crab
* sea-crab
* sentinel crab
* shame-faced crab
* shore crab, shore-crab
* soft-shell crab
* soldier crab, soldier-crab
* spider crab, spider-crab
* stilt crab
* stone crab
* strawberry crab
* Tasmanian giant crab
* thumbnail crab
* tree crab
* turn out crabs
* velvet crab
* white crab
Verb
To fish for crabs.
(transitive, US, slang) To ruin.
* 1940 , (Raymond Chandler), Farewell, My Lovely , Penguin 2010, p. 224:
- ‘Just so we understand each other,’ he said after a pause. ‘If you crab this case, you’ll be in a jam.’
To complain.
(intransitive, nautical, aviation) To drift sideways or to leeward (by analogy with the movement of a crab).
-
To navigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against an air current in order to maintain a straight-line course.
(obsolete, World War I), to fly slightly off the straight-line course towards an enemy aircraft, as the machine guns on early aircraft did not allow firing through the propeller disk.
(rare) To back out of something.
*
Derived terms
* crabber
* crabbing
Etymology 2
(etyl) crabbe, of Germanic origin, plausibly from Scandinavian, cognate with Swedish dialect scrabba
Noun
(en noun)
The crab apple or wild apple.
* 1610 , , act 2 scene 2
- I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
- And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
The tree bearing crab apples, which has a dogbane-like bitter bark with medical use.
A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick.
- (Garrick)
A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc.
A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc.
A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn.
A claw for anchoring a portable machine.
Synonyms
* (crab apple) crab apple
* (tree) crab apple
Derived terms
* cherry crab
* Chinese crab
* crab apple, crab-apple, crabapple
* crab-bat
* crab-knob
* crab-staff
* crab-stick, crabstick
* crab-stock
* crab-tree
* garland crab
* Siberian crab
Verb
(crabb)
(obsolete) To irritate, make surly or sour
To be ill-tempered; to complain or find fault.
* Glanvill
- Sickness sours or crabs our nature.
(British dialect) To cudgel or beat, as with a crabstick
-
Etymology 3
Possibly a corruption of the genus name
Noun
(en noun)
The tree species , native of South America.
Derived terms
* crab-nut
* crab-oil
Etymology 4
Alternation of carabiner
Noun
(en noun)
Short for carabiner.
References
* Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker . MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523
*
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cancer
Noun
(en noun)
(medicine, oncology, disease) A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black)
, title=Internal Combustion
, chapter=1 citation
, passage=If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Snakes and ladders
, passage=Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.}}
(figuratively) Something which spreads within something else, damaging the latter.
- {{quote-book, year=1999, author=Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, title=Effective Writing, page=134 <q cite="http://books.google.com/books?id=_sI0V0w5124C&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&source=bl&ots=R_MyVb9f0Z&sig=eiggQh1XsHHbKDAMU1hn5mWznko&hl=en&sa=X&ei=anMAUIq0LYnnqgGvtsmhBw&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAg
- v=onepage&q&f=false”>citation
, passage=Sierra Leone’s post-dictator problems are almost absurd in their breadth. It once exported rice; now it can’t feed itself. The life span of the average citizen is 39, the shortest in Africa. Unemployment stands at 87 percent and tuberculosis is spreading out of control. Corruption, brazen and ubiquitous, is a cancer on the economy.}}
Synonyms
* (disease) growth, malignancy, neoplasia
* (something which spreads) lichen
Hyponyms
* tumor
* leukaemia, leukemia
Derived terms
(types of cancer)
* bowel cancer
* breast cancer
* colon cancer
* leukemia
* testicular cancer
* lung cancer
* prostate cancer
* ovarian cancer
* skin cancer
* cervical cancer
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