plural noun
Animals with hard shells, two front claws, and legs that usually move sideways.
I saw some tiny crabs on the beach.
The crabs pinched my toe.
American English
How to pronounce crabs
noun · verbB1
KʰRAABZ
/kʰɹæbz/
One syllable.
Form of crab
Animals with hard shells, two front claws, and legs that usually move sideways.
Practice out loudMeanings & examples
third-person singular verb
Complains in an annoyed way, often about small problems.
He always crabs about the weather.
She crabs about every little delay.
Good to know
Use crab about something, not crab something.
Useful expressions
a small crab that uses an empty shell as its home
We found a hermit crab in a tide pool.
a small fried or baked cake made with crab meat
The restaurant serves excellent crab cakes.
Related words & forms
Before -ed and -ing, the final b is doubled: crabbed, crabbing.