crab

name

1. The constellation and zodiacal sign Cancer.

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

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

noun

Etymology: From carabiner.

1. Clipping of carabiner, modified based on likening the shape of a carabiner to a crab's claw.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English crabbe (“wild apple”), of Germanic origin, plausibly from North Germanic, cognate with Swedish dialect skrabba (“sour apple, apple cart”).

1. To irritate, make surly or sour
2. To be ill-tempered; to complain or find fault.
3. To cudgel or beat, as with a crabstick

   “Get you to bed, drab, courage Or l'll so crab your shoulders!”

   “I was on a horse named The Skipper, a perfect terror to ride when he was in a bad humour, which he invariably was; nevertheless he was a splendid hunter and I never crabbed him.”

4. To offend or insult.

   “If I think one thing and speak another, / I will both crab Christ and our Ladie His mother.”