crabby

crabby
crabby 1520s, in now-obsolete sense "crooked, gnarled, rough," from extended sense of CRAB (Cf. crab) + -Y (Cf. -y) (2). Meaning "disagreeable, sour, peevish" is attested from 1776, Amer.Eng. Both senses were found earlier in CRABBED (Cf. crabbed).

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Crabby — Crab by ( b[y^]), a. Crabbed; difficult, or perplexing. Persius is crabby, because ancient. Marston. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • crabby — index fractious, petulant Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • crabby — / crabbed [adj] in a bad mood acid, acrid, acrimonious, awkward, bad tempered, blunt, brusque, captious, choleric, churlish, cranky*, cross, crotchety, crusty*, cynical, difficult, dour, fretful, gloomy, glum, grouchy*, harsh, huffy, ill humored …   New thesaurus

  • crabby — ► ADJECTIVE (crabbier, crabbiest) ▪ bad tempered; morose. DERIVATIVES crabbily adverb crabbiness noun …   English terms dictionary

  • crabby — [krab′ē] adj. crabbier, crabbiest [see CRABBED] cross and complaining; peevish; ill tempered crabbily adv. crabbiness n …   English World dictionary

  • crabby — adjective informal someone who is crabby easily becomes annoyed about unimportant things; bad tempered: a rather crabby old man | I was feeling crabby …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • crabby — crab|by [ˈkræbi] adj easily annoyed by unimportant things = ↑bad tempered ▪ a crabby old man ▪ You re a bit crabby this morning …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • crabby — UK [ˈkræbɪ] / US adjective Word forms crabby : adjective crabby comparative crabbier superlative crabbiest easily annoyed by unimportant things Derived word: crabbiness noun uncountable …   English dictionary

  • crabby — adjective (crabbier; est) Etymology: 4crab Date: 1599 cross, ill natured < a crabby recluse > …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • crabby — [[t]kræ̱bi[/t]] ADJ GRADED Someone who is crabby is bad tempered and unpleasant to people. [INFORMAL] …   English dictionary

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