Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary -- Volume C

Crab (krăb), n. [AS. crabba; akin to D. krab, G. krabbe, krebs, Icel. krabbi, Sw. krabba, Dan. krabbe, and perh. to E. cramp. Cf. Crawfish.]

1. (Zoöl.) One of the brachyuran Crustacea. They are mostly marine, and usually have a broad, short body, covered with a strong shell or carapace. The abdomen is small and curled up beneath the body.

The name is applied to all the Brachyura, and to certain Anomura, as the hermit crabs. Formerly, it was sometimes applied to Crustacea in general. Many species are edible, the blue crab of the Atlantic coast being one of the most esteemed. The large European edible crab is Cancer padurus. Soft-shelled crabs are blue crabs that have recently cast their shells. See Cancer; also, Box crab, Fiddler crab, Hermit crab, Spider crab, etc., under Box, Fiddler. etc.

2. The zodiacal constellation Cancer.

3. [See Crab, a.] (Bot.) A crab apple; -- so named from its harsh taste.

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl.
Shak.

4. A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick. [Obs.] Garrick.

5. (Mech.) (a) A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc. (b) A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc. (c) A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn. (d) A claw for anchoring a portable machine.

-- Calling crab. (Zoöl.) See Fiddler., n., 2.

-- Crab apple, a small, sour apple, of several kinds; also, the tree which bears it; as, the European crab apple (Pyrus Malus var. sylvestris); the Siberian crab apple (Pyrus baccata); and the American (Pyrus coronaria).

-- Crab grass. (Bot.) (a) A grass (Digitaria, or Panicum, sanguinalis); -- called also finger grass. (b) A grass of the genus Eleusine (E. Indica); -- called also dog's-tail grass, wire grass, etc.