crabbed (redirected from crabbedly)

crab·bed  (krbd)

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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crabbed·ly adv.

crabbed·ness n.

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crabbed [ˈkræbɪd]

adj

1. surly; irritable; perverse

2. (Communication Arts / Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) (esp of handwriting) cramped and hard to decipher

[probably from crab¹ (from its wayward gait), influenced by crab(apple) (from its tartness)]

crabbedly  adv

crabbedness  n

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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, cross ill-natured - having an irritable and unpleasant disposition

Translations

crabbed [ˈkræbd] ADJ

1. [writing] → apretado, indescifrable

2. [mood] → malhumorado, hosco

crabbed

adj

= crabby

handwriting → kritzelig, unleserlich