crab

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“
These long filaments that you see on the back of the crab are actually created by the product of that bacteria.

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Definitions (80)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (20)

  1. noun Any of various predominantly marine crustaceans of the division Brachyura within the order Decapoda, characterized by a broad flattened cephalothorax covered by a hard carapace with a small abdomen concealed beneath it, short antennae, and five pairs of legs, of which the anterior pair are large and pincerlike.
  2. noun Any of various similar related crustaceans, such as the hermit crab or king crab.
  3. noun A horseshoe crab.
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Examples (50)

  • These long filaments that you see on the back of the crab are actually created by the product of that bacteria. —  David Gallo on life in the deep oceans
  • Next I saw a faint movement like a crab, a human hand, then eyes looking at me out of the mud. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 03 - September 1999
  • And I'm pretty sure that the crab was artificial, despite what she answered. —  TNT Diner
  • Water - Cancer: June 22nd to July 23rd Cancer the crab is the protective sign and is the kindest and most sensitive sign in the zodiac. —  xml's Blinklist.com
  • A crab is a peeler when it is in the process of losing its old shell, (to test if a crab is a peeler, try lifting the rear end of its shell; it should come away easily). —  ReadABlog.com New Blogs and RSS Feeds
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

lobster ·  turtle ·  oyster ·  snail ·  shrimp ·  lizard ·  frog ·  salmon ·  mussel ·  spider ·  tortoise ·  fish

Used in the same contextWord Family

crab:   crabs
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (8)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English crabbe, from Old English crabba; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English crabbe, possibly from crabbe, crab (shellfish); see crab1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. Early modern English crabbe, from Middle English crabbe, from Anglo-Saxon crabba = Dutch krab = Middle Low German krabbe (later G. krabbe, and prob. the earlier G. form krappe, = French crabe) = Icelandic krabbi = Swedish krabba = Danish krabbe = (with different suffix) Old High German chrebiz, crebiz (later ult. English crawfish, crayfish, q. v.), Middle High German krebez, krebeze, German krebs (later Danish krebs) = Dutch kreeft = Swedish kräfta, a crawfish. Perhaps connected with Old High German chrapfo, a hook, claw, and thus ult. with English cramp; cf. Welsh craf, claws or talons, crafu, scratch, crafanc, a crab. The L. carabus (see Carabus) is not akin.
  2. from crab, n. Cf. Middle Low German freq. krabbeln, creep about.
  3. from Middle English crabbe, from Swedish (in comp.) krabb-äple, a crab-apple; perhaps from krabba, a crab (crustacean), in allusion to the astringent juice. Cf. crabbed.
  4. English dial. also crob, q. v.; from Middle English *crabben, found only in past participle adjective crabbed, q. v.; prob. = Middle Dutch, Dutch krabben = Middle Low German Low German krabben, scratch, scrape, = Icelandic krabba, scrawl (freq. Middle Dutch krabbelen, scratch, scrawl, Dutch krabbelen, scrawl, = Middle Low German krabbeln, crawl about); in a secondary form also Middle Dutch kribben, scratch, Dutch kribben, quarrel, be peevish or cross (freq. D. kribbelen, scrawl, be always quarrelsome, = German kribbeln, tickle, irritate, fret); whence, from the same base. Middle Dutch, Dutch kribbig, peevish, cross, crabbed, = Middle Low German kribbisch = German kreppisch, peevish, cross, crabbed. In English the word, most familiar in the form crabbed, has long been associated with crab, a sour apple, crabbed being understood as ‘sour.’
  5. from crab, a.; with allusion to crab, n.
  6. Partly from crab, v., and crabbed, partly from crab, n.
 

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