crabbed

crabbed

C5745900 (krăbd, krăb′ĭd)adj.1. Irritable and perverse in disposition; ill-tempered.2. Difficult to understand; complicated.3. Difficult to read; cramped: crabbed handwriting.

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[Middle English, from crabbe, crab (influenced by crab); see crab¹.]

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crab′bed·ly adv.crab′bed·ness n.

crabbed

(ˈkræbɪd) adj1. surly; irritable; perverse2. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) (esp of handwriting) cramped and hard to decipher[C13: probably from crab¹ (from its wayward gait), influenced by crab(apple) (from its tartness)] ˈcrabbedly adv ˈcrabbedness n

crab•bed

(ˈkræb ɪd)

adj. 1. difficult to read, as handwriting. 2. hard to understand; intricate and obscure. 3. ill-tempered; surly. [1250–1300; Middle English; see crab¹, -ed³] crab′bed•ly, adv. crab′bed•ness, n.

crabby, crabbed - Crabby and crabbed derive from a crab's sideways movement and habit of snapping (thought to suggest a perverse or irritable nature).See also related terms for perverse.

Thesaurus

Adj.	1.crabbed - annoyed and irritable fussy, grouchy, grumpy, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, crabby, crossill-natured - having an irritable and unpleasant disposition

crabbed

adjectiveHaving or showing a bad temper:bad-tempered, cantankerous, cranky, cross, disagreeable, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, nasty, peevish, petulant, querulous, snappish, snappy, surly, testy, ugly, waspish.Informal: crabby, mean.Idiom: out of sorts.