Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CRAB, n. [Sax. crabba and hrefen; Sw. krabba; Dan. krabbe, kræbs; D. krab, kreeft; G. krabbe, krebs; Fr. cerevisse; W. crav, claws; cravanc, a crab; cravu, to scratch; Gr. καραβος; L. carabus. It may be allied to the Ch. כרב kerabh, to plow, Eng. to grave, engrave, L. scribo, Gr. γραφω, literally, to scrape or scratch. See Class Rb, No. 30, 18, &c.]

1. A crustaceous fish, the crayfish, Cancer, a genus containing numerous species. They have usually ten feet, two of which are furnished with claws; two eyes, pedunculated, elongated and movable. To this genus belong the lobster, the shrimp, &c.
2. A wild apple, or the tree producing it; so named from its rough taste.
3. A peevish morose person. – Johnson.
4. A wooden engine with three claws for lanching ships and heaving them into the dock. – Philips.
5. A pillar used sometimes for the same purpose as a capstand. – Mar. Dict.
6. Cancer, a sign in the zodiac. Crab's claws, in the materia medica, the tips of the claws of the common crab; used as absorbents. – Encyc. Crab's eyes, in pharmacy, concretions formed in the stomach of the cray-fish. They are rounded on one side, and depressed and sinuated on the other, considerably heavy, moderately hard, and without smell. They are absorbent, dismissive and diuretic. – Encyc. Crab-lice, small insects that stick fast to the skin.