Meaning of crab | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Any crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace.
   countable, uncountable
2. The crab apple or wild apple.
3. The tree species Carapa guianensis, native to South America.
4. Clipping of carabiner, modified based on likening the shape of a carabiner to a crab's claw.
   abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal
5. A unit for measuring the intensity of astrophysical X-ray sources, defined as the intensity of the Crab Nebula at the corresponding X-ray photon energy.
6. The constellation and zodiacal sign Cancer.
7. The meat of this crustacean, served as food; crabmeat.
   uncountable
8. The tree bearing crab apples, which has a dogbane-like bitter bark with medical use.
9. Various other animals that resemble true crabs:
   countable, uncountable
10. Any of various crustacean in the infraorder Anomura, usually excluding squat lobsters.
    countable, uncountable
11. A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick.
12. A horseshoe crab.
    countable, uncountable
13. A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc.
14. A bad-tempered person.
    countable, uncountable
15. A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc.
16. An infestation of pubic lice (Pthirus pubis).
    countable, informal, uncountable
17. A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn.
18. Ellipsis of crab angle.
    abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable
19. A claw for anchoring a portable machine.
20. A playing card with the rank of three.
    countable, slang, uncountable
21. A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water.
    countable, uncountable
22. A defect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use.
    countable, uncountable
23. An unsold book that is returned to the publisher.
    countable, dated, uncountable
24. On an insignia, a coat of arms symbol representing a senior rank.
    Singapore, countable, slang, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw[…]that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.”

“Despite its name, the hermit crab is not a true crab!”

“She so obviously enjoyed every second of the concert that only the most stubborn crab could not have been warmed by her charm.”

“Although crabs themselves are an easily treated inconvenience, the patient and his partner(s) clearly run major STD risks.”

“The pilot had to hold fifteen degrees of crab during the approach to keep her plane from getting blown off the localizer course.”

“-- "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.”

“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.”

“[…] the unsold copies may be returned to the original publisher , at a period fixed upon between Christmas and Easter; these returned copies are technically called krebse or crabs, probably, from their walking backwards. […] A says to B, "I have had eight thousand dollars' worth of your publications, three thousand were crabs, that makes five thousand."”

“[…] unsold copies and settling the yearly accounts; while for the publisher begins the much dreaded season of "crabs," as […]”

“I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow; And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;”

“Just as by cultivation the acrid wild crab has been developed into the beautiful and luscious apple, may the unripe, ill-fed, neglected wild fruits of the fields and slums be developed into pure and noble and beautiful men and women.”

“She swore to such things , that I could do nothing but swear and call names : upon which out bolts her husband upon me , with a fine taper crab in his hand and fell upon me with such violence , that , being half delirious , I made a full confession”

“This Crab, I confeſſe, did ill become the heavens[.]”

“Cancer, or the Crab, commandeth the Stomach, Limbs, Arteries, Milt, Liver and Gall.”

“The Crab was said to be sent by Juno to bite Hercules in the heel; the Scorpion to have been sent by Ceres to sting Orion.”

“The Crab and the Scorpion much resemble each other, as indeed they do in many other instances, the former being a reduplication of the latter.”

“Now, if you went down into the forest where the spring gum-tips gleam gold and ruby in whatever sunshine, Heaven thinks fit to apportion at this season to residents of the Dandenongs (who surely were all born Aquarians) what sign of the Zodiac would you expect to meet? [...] Not Taurus the Bull, who is paddocked, or Cancer the Crab, who lives underground in these regions.”

“‘’Tis so, Owlface,’ said Catweazle, ‘the Sign of the Crab.’”

CEFR level