Part 626

2. Characterized by harshness or roughness; unpleasant; -- applied to things; as, a crabbed taste.

3. Obscure; difficult; perplexing; trying; as, a crabbed author. "Crabbed eloquence." Chaucer.

How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose. Milton.

4. Cramped; irregular; as, crabbed handwriting.

-- Crab"bed*ly, adv. -- Crab"bed*ness, n.

Crab"ber (kr?b"b?r), n. One who catches crabs.

Crab"bing, n. 1. The act or art of catching crabs.

2. (Falconry) The fighting of hawks with each other.

3. (Woolen Manuf.) A process of scouring cloth between rolls in a machine.

Crab"bish (krăb"b&ibreve;sh), a. Somewhat sour or cross.

The whips of the most crabbish Satyristes. Decker.

Crab"by (-b&ybreve;), a. Crabbed; difficult, or perplexing. "Persius is crabby, because ancient." Marston.

Crab"eat`er (krăb"ēt`&etilde;r), n. (Zo÷l.) (a) The cobia. (b) An etheostomoid fish of the southern United States (Hadropterus nigrofasciatus). (c) A small European heron (Ardea minuta, and other allied species).

Cra"ber (krā"b&etilde;r), n. (Zo÷l.) The water rat. Walton.

Crab"faced` (krăb"fāst`), a. Having a sour, disagreeable countenance. Beau. & Fl.

Crab"si`dle (-sī`d'l), v. i. To move sidewise, as a crab. [Jocular]. Southey.

Crab"stick` (-st&ibreve;k`), n. A stick, cane, or cudgel, made of the wood of the crab tree.

Crab" tree (trē`). See under Crab.

Crab"-yaws` (kr?b"y?z`), n. (Med.) A disease in the West Indies. It is a kind of ulcer on the soles of the feet, with very hard edges. See Yaws. Dunglison.

Crache (krăch), v. To scratch. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Crack (krăk), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cracked (krăkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Cracking.] [OE. cracken, craken, to crack, break, boast, AS. cracian, cearcian, to crack; akin to D. kraken, G. krachen; cf. Skr. garj to rattle, or perh. of imitative origin. Cf. Crake, Cracknel, Creak.]

1. To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, to crack glass; to crack nuts.

2. To rend with grief or pain; to affect deeply with sorrow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze.

O, madam, my old heart is cracked. Shak.

He thought none poets till their brains were cracked. Roscommon.

3. To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, to crack a whip.

4. To utter smartly and sententiously; as, to crack a joke. B. Jonson.

5. To cry up; to extol; -- followed by up.