crabbed
pronunciation
How to pronounce crabbed in British English:
UK [ˈkræbɪd]
How to pronounce crabbed in American English:
US [ˈkræbɪd]
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- Adjective:
- perversely irritable
Word Origin
- crabbed
- crabbed: [13] Because of their tendency to deploy their pincers at the slightest provocation, and also perhaps because of their sidelong method of locomotion, crabs seem always to have had a reputation for being short-tempered and perverse. Hence the creation of the adjective crabbed, which literally means ‘like a crab’. Its meaning has subsequently been influenced by crab the apple, famous for its sourness. (The semantically similar crabby is a 16th-century formation.)
- crabbed (adj.)
- late 14c., "peevish, angry, ill-tempered," from crab (n.1), from the crab's combative disposition; mid-15c. as "resembling a crab" in reference to crookedness. Of taste "bitter, harsh," late 14c., from crab (n.2).
Example
- 1. Crabbed knot must have a crabbed wedge .
- 2. Old age had crabbed my nature .
- 3. The name of duggan , written in a crabbed hand .
- 4. He met a crabbed , cantankerous director .
- 5. The children avoided the crabbed old man because he scolded them when they made noise .