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单词 crabbed
释义

Definition of crabbed in English:

crabbed

adjective krabdˈkrabɪdkræbd
  • 1(of handwriting) very small and difficult to decipher.

    his handwriting is crabbed and hideous
    Example sentencesExamples
    • A furry arm snaked out, hung a sign in a crabbed script, then whisked out of sight again.
    • You're left with a notebook page of highbrows, scribbled in a crabbed hand.
    • Inside, a crabbed script covered page after page, interspaced by occasional line drawings.
    • Thirty-four years after I made this crabbed notation - ‘Mr. Chapman and guest.’
    • For those not fluent in Italian, I will paraphrase the definition before me in Il Duce's crabbed hand.
    • On the wall hung a framed letter in faded brown ink, written in a crabbed and spidery fist.
    • Plotinus wrote these treatises in a crabbed and difficult Greek.
    • It wasn't as though they were written down on teeny little Post-Its in crabbed penmanship and stuck onto the shelves backwards.
    • It was written with a pen in a crabbed hand, and the sum and substance of it was this.
    • Klessa's handwriting, in particular, is too damnably crabbed.
    • The crabbed handwriting was identical to the one on the note.
    • I have again spent too long reading Klessa's crabbed writing.
    • The painfully familiar Cyrillic letters were crabbed and uneven - as if battered by gales.
    • They are recording with their crabbed hands what they are saying, a full transcript of what may be occurring.
    • Wendy noted the crabbed scrawl of her uncle's signature immediately above the notarization seal, then read the introduction.
    • Atop the videocassette was a note penned in blue ink in my brother's surprisingly crabbed handwriting.
    Synonyms
    cramped, bad, shaky, scribbled, spidery, laboured, illegible, unreadable, indecipherable
    1. 1.1 (of style) contorted and difficult to understand.
      crabbed legal language
      Example sentencesExamples
      • It is far too late in the day to impose a crabbed reading of the [establishment] clause on the country.
      • The latter has the literary style of a crabbed academic philosophy professor.
      • Well, we had a great time watching this show, and it made Martha's show seemed crabbed and small by comparison.
      • But this crabbed, Hobbesian spirit of social Darwinism has been bested before, and we can overcome it again.
      • She felt the attraction of libertine narrative in a less crabbed way than some of her better-known works might lead us to believe.
      • One minute crabbed, spindly lines pick through the chords awkwardly, then suddenly there's a passage of effortless, fluid virtuosity.
      • His efforts to explore the ethical basis of legal rules goes along with a more crabbed style than is usual with Roman lawyers.
      • Significantly, however, we need not view the verdicts in that deferential, crabbed way.
      • Warner's highly complex line of argument, winding around so much material, and so tightly, produces a compacted, even crabbed architecture.
  • 2Bad-tempered.

    a crabbed, unhappy middle age
    Example sentencesExamples
    • His charming comedy about crabbed age and youth will be back in time for the holiday season.
    • Noah has taken all the family's worries on himself, and he's in danger of turning into a crabbed old man.
    • These are, of course, the sour thoughts of a crabbed and incorrigible old cynic.
    • Earlier, he attacked ‘all the crabbed, sour, anti-Europeans’ for ‘banging on about Europe becoming some kind of superstate’.
    • Why should the capital lose out because the rest of Britain is so crabbed and provincial in its attitude towards newcomers?
    • I felt crabbed and stinging-eyed and almost tore her head off.
    • This common mantra of crabbed Republicanism became mine also.
    • Epstein's crabbed view of autonomy also highlights the bankruptcy of the libertarian view of child-rearing.
    • It's a crabbed, narrow, unforgiving quality that was alive and well particularly for a couple of decades after the war.
    • Now we are like the crabbed geezers we used to sing about.
    • But if the only way to do it is via a cranky and crabbed dismissal of science, count me out.
    Synonyms
    irritable, fractious, fretful, cross, petulant, pettish, crabby, crotchety, cantankerous, curmudgeonly, disagreeable, miserable, morose, peppery, on edge, edgy, impatient, complaining, querulous

Derivatives

  • crabbedly

  • adverb
    • We thought that would be a better way to ring in the season than, say, crabbedly poking at a deck, angry and alone.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • In the end, however, such crabbedly utilitarian arguments simply fail to understand the historic significance of the parliament.
      • He was a crabbedly honest old fellow, and a very skilful hunter.
      • That is why the young are fiery and righteous, and the old crabbedly mutter that there is no new thing under the sun.
      • The uncertainty led to unpredictable twists in his character, making him by turns free-hearted and crabbedly vindictive.
  • crabbedness

  • noun
    • The story of a change in a character from arrogance, crabbedness, to that of humility always has appeal.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • They differ from earlier work, in a slight crabbedness of hand, a somewhat less generous use of space.
      • Out of its crabbedness and spitefulness come the finest, choicest flavors.
      • Both father and son, in their crabbedness, may be recessionary personalities.
      • The crabbedness of old age or misfortune was evidently looked upon as witchcraft.

Origin

Middle English (in the sense 'perverse, wayward'): from crab1, because of the crab's sideways gait and habit of snapping.

  • The crab (Old English) is at the root of crabbed. Both original senses, the medieval ‘perverse or wayward’ and the later ‘cantankerous and bad-tempered’, come from aspects of a crab's behaviour, the way it walks sideways and its habit of snapping. Crabby is a later word, also derived from crab. The gambling game craps (early 19th century) may be from crab or crab's eyes, for the lowest throw (two ones) at dice, also known as snake eyes. See also cancer, crayfish

 
 

Definition of crabbed in US English:

crabbed

adjectivekræbdkrabd
  • 1(of handwriting) ill-formed and hard to decipher.

    Example sentencesExamples
    • Plotinus wrote these treatises in a crabbed and difficult Greek.
    • The crabbed handwriting was identical to the one on the note.
    • Thirty-four years after I made this crabbed notation - ‘Mr. Chapman and guest.’
    • Atop the videocassette was a note penned in blue ink in my brother's surprisingly crabbed handwriting.
    • I have again spent too long reading Klessa's crabbed writing.
    • Inside, a crabbed script covered page after page, interspaced by occasional line drawings.
    • You're left with a notebook page of highbrows, scribbled in a crabbed hand.
    • Klessa's handwriting, in particular, is too damnably crabbed.
    • They are recording with their crabbed hands what they are saying, a full transcript of what may be occurring.
    • It wasn't as though they were written down on teeny little Post-Its in crabbed penmanship and stuck onto the shelves backwards.
    • It was written with a pen in a crabbed hand, and the sum and substance of it was this.
    • For those not fluent in Italian, I will paraphrase the definition before me in Il Duce's crabbed hand.
    • Wendy noted the crabbed scrawl of her uncle's signature immediately above the notarization seal, then read the introduction.
    • The painfully familiar Cyrillic letters were crabbed and uneven - as if battered by gales.
    • A furry arm snaked out, hung a sign in a crabbed script, then whisked out of sight again.
    • On the wall hung a framed letter in faded brown ink, written in a crabbed and spidery fist.
    Synonyms
    cramped, bad, shaky, scribbled, spidery, laboured, illegible, unreadable, indecipherable
    1. 1.1 (of style) contorted and difficult to understand.
      crabbed legal language
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Warner's highly complex line of argument, winding around so much material, and so tightly, produces a compacted, even crabbed architecture.
      • It is far too late in the day to impose a crabbed reading of the [establishment] clause on the country.
      • One minute crabbed, spindly lines pick through the chords awkwardly, then suddenly there's a passage of effortless, fluid virtuosity.
      • Well, we had a great time watching this show, and it made Martha's show seemed crabbed and small by comparison.
      • She felt the attraction of libertine narrative in a less crabbed way than some of her better-known works might lead us to believe.
      • His efforts to explore the ethical basis of legal rules goes along with a more crabbed style than is usual with Roman lawyers.
      • The latter has the literary style of a crabbed academic philosophy professor.
      • Significantly, however, we need not view the verdicts in that deferential, crabbed way.
      • But this crabbed, Hobbesian spirit of social Darwinism has been bested before, and we can overcome it again.
  • 2Ill-humored.

    a crabbed, unhappy middle age
    Example sentencesExamples
    • It's a crabbed, narrow, unforgiving quality that was alive and well particularly for a couple of decades after the war.
    • Noah has taken all the family's worries on himself, and he's in danger of turning into a crabbed old man.
    • Earlier, he attacked ‘all the crabbed, sour, anti-Europeans’ for ‘banging on about Europe becoming some kind of superstate’.
    • But if the only way to do it is via a cranky and crabbed dismissal of science, count me out.
    • Why should the capital lose out because the rest of Britain is so crabbed and provincial in its attitude towards newcomers?
    • Epstein's crabbed view of autonomy also highlights the bankruptcy of the libertarian view of child-rearing.
    • This common mantra of crabbed Republicanism became mine also.
    • His charming comedy about crabbed age and youth will be back in time for the holiday season.
    • I felt crabbed and stinging-eyed and almost tore her head off.
    • These are, of course, the sour thoughts of a crabbed and incorrigible old cynic.
    • Now we are like the crabbed geezers we used to sing about.
    Synonyms
    irritable, fractious, fretful, cross, petulant, pettish, crabby, crotchety, cantankerous, curmudgeonly, disagreeable, miserable, morose, peppery, on edge, edgy, impatient, complaining, querulous

Origin

Middle English (in the sense ‘perverse, wayward’): from crab, because of the crab's sideways gait and habit of snapping.

 
 
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更新时间:2024/12/23 17:37:51