crabbed
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Crabbed — Crab bed (kr?b b?d), a. [See {Crab},n.] 1. Characterized by or manifesting, sourness, peevishness, or moroseness; harsh; cross; cynical; applied to feelings, disposition, or manners. [1913 Webster] Crabbed age and youth can not live together.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
crabbed — [krab′id] adj. [< CRAB1, infl. by CRAB2] 1. peevish; morose; cross 2. hard to understand because intricate or complicated 3. hard to read or make out because cramped or irregular [crabbed handwriting] crabbedly … English World dictionary
crabbed — (adj.) late 14c., lit. resembling a crab, in reference to crookedness, from CRAB (Cf. crab) (1). Of taste bitter, harsh, late 14c., from CRAB (Cf. crab) (2). Meaning peevish is attested from 1560s, in reference to a crab s combative disposition … Etymology dictionary
crabbed — *sullen, surly, glum, morose, gloomy, sulky, saturnine, dour Analogous words: crusty, gruff, brusque, blunt (see BLUFF): testy, choleric, cranky, cross, splenetic, *irascible: snappish, huffy, *irritable Contrasted words: *amiable, good natured,… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
crabbed — meaning ‘irritable’ or ‘hard to decipher’, is pronounced as two syllables … Modern English usage
crabbed — ► ADJECTIVE 1) (of writing) hard to read or understand. 2) bad tempered; crabby. ORIGIN from CRAB(Cf. ↑crablike), because of the crab s sideways gait and habit of snapping … English terms dictionary
crabbed — adjective Etymology: Middle English, partly from crabbe crustacean, partly from crabbe crab apple Date: 14th century 1. marked by a forbidding moroseness < a crabbed view of human nature > 2. difficult to read or understand … New Collegiate Dictionary
crabbed — crab|bed [ kræbəd ] adjective 1. ) crabbed writing is written in small letters that are very close together and difficult to read: CRAMPED: crabbed handwriting 2. ) OLD FASHIONED CRABBY … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
crabbed — adjective 1 writing which is crabbed is difficult to read because the letters are small and untidy 2 old fashioned someone who is crabbed always behaves as if they are annoyed; bad tempered … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
crabbed — adjective 1) her crabbed handwriting Syn: cramped, ill formed, bad, illegible, unreadable, indecipherable, hieroglyphic; shaky, spidery 2) a crabbed old man See crabby … Thesaurus of popular words
