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Crab vs Beetle - What's the difference?

crab | beetle |

As nouns the difference between crab and beetle

is that crab is a crustacean of the infraorder brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace or crab can be the crab apple or wild apple or crab can be the tree species , native of south america or crab can be short for carabiner while beetle is any of numerous species of insect in the order coleoptera characterized by a pair of hard, shell-like front wings which cover and protect a pair of rear wings when at rest or beetle can be a type of mallet with a large wooden head, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.

As verbs the difference between crab and beetle

is that crab is to fish for crabs or crab can be (obsolete) to irritate, make surly or sour while beetle is to move away quickly, to scurry away or beetle can be to loom over; to extend or jut or beetle can be to beat with a heavy mallet.

As an adjective beetle is

protruding, jutting, overhanging (as in beetle brows ).

crab

English

(wikipedia crab)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) crabbe, from (etyl)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
    • , passage=But Richmond
  • A bad-tempered person.
  • .
  • (label) A playing card with the rank of three.
  • (label) A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water.
  • A defect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use.
  • * 1915 , , (Of Human Bondage) , :
    • -- "I suppose you wouldn't like to do a locum for a month on the South coast? Three guineas a week with board and lodging." -- "I wouldn't mind," said Philip. -- "It's at Farnley, in Dorsetshire. Doctor South. You'd have to go down at once; his assistant has developed mumps. I believe it's a very pleasant place." There was something in the secretary's manner that puzzled Philip. It was a little doubtful. -- "What's the crab in it?" he asked.
  • * 1940 , (Horace Annesley Vachell), Little Tyrannies
    • Arrested by the low price of another “desirable residence”, I asked “What's the crab'?” The agent assured me that there was no ' crab . I fell in love with this house at sight. Happily, I discovered that it was reputed to be haunted.
    Derived terms
    * Alaska crab, Alaska king crab, Alaskan king crab * arrow crab * black crab * blue crab * blue swimmer crab * box-crab * catch a crab * Chinese crab * Chinese mitten crab * Christmas Island red crab * circular crab * coconut crab * come off crabs * crabbed * crabber * crabbery * crabbing * crabbish * crabby * crab cactus * crab canon, crab-canon * crab-catcher * crab-claw * crab-eater * crab-eating * crab face, crab-face * crab-faced * crab-favored, crab-favoured * crab-farming * crab-fish * crab-grass, crabgrass * crab-harrow * crab-hole * crab-holed * crablet * crab-like, crablike * crabling * crab-lobster * crab louse, crab-louse * crab mentality * crabmeat * Crab Nebula * crabologist * crab-pot * crab-pot valve * crab rock * crab-roller * crab's claw * crab's eye, crab's-eye * crab-shell * crab-sidle * crab-snouted * crab spider, crab-spider * crab-step * crab stick * crab-stone * crab-weed * crabwise * crab yaws * cut a crab * Dungeness crab * fiddler crab * flower crab * ghost crab * green crab * halloween crab * hard-shell crab * hermit crab * horseshoe crab * Jonah crab * king crab, king-crab * lady crab * land crab, land-crab * mangrove crab * mantis crab * masked crab * mole crab * mud crab * nobody-crab * oyster crab * palm crab * pea crab, pea-crab * porcelain crab * purse crab * racing crab * river crab * robber-crab * rock crab * sand crab * sea-crab * sentinel crab * shame-faced crab * shore crab, shore-crab * soft-shell crab * soldier crab, soldier-crab * spider crab, spider-crab * stilt crab * stone crab * strawberry crab * Tasmanian giant crab * thumbnail crab * tree crab * turn out crabs * velvet crab * white crab
    Related terms
    * craber * crabier * crabite * crab-skuit * panier de crabes

    Verb

  • To fish for crabs.
  • (transitive, US, slang) To ruin.
  • * 1940 , (Raymond Chandler), Farewell, My Lovely , Penguin 2010, p. 224:
    • ‘Just so we understand each other,’ he said after a pause. ‘If you crab this case, you'll be in a jam.’
  • To complain.
  • (intransitive, nautical, aviation) To drift sideways or to leeward (by analogy with the movement of a crab).
  • To navigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against an air current in order to maintain a straight-line course.
  • (obsolete, World War I), to fly slightly off the straight-line course towards an enemy aircraft, as the machine guns on early aircraft did not allow firing through the propeller disk.
  • (rare) To back out of something.
  • *
    • Derived terms
    * crabber * crabbing

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) crabbe, of Germanic origin, plausibly from Scandinavian, cognate with Swedish dialect scrabba

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The crab apple or wild apple.
  • * 1610 , , act 2 scene 2
    • I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow;
    And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts;
  • The tree bearing crab apples, which has a dogbane-like bitter bark with medical use.
  • A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick.
    • (Garrick)
  • A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc.
  • A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc.
  • A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn.
  • A claw for anchoring a portable machine.
    • Synonyms
    * (crab apple) crab apple * (tree) crab apple
    Derived terms
    * cherry crab * Chinese crab * crab apple, crab-apple, crabapple * crab-bat * crab-knob * crab-staff * crab-stick, crabstick * crab-stock * crab-tree * garland crab * Siberian crab

    Verb

    (crabb)
  • (obsolete) To irritate, make surly or sour
  • To be ill-tempered; to complain or find fault.
  • * Glanvill
    • Sickness sours or crabs our nature.
  • (British dialect) To cudgel or beat, as with a crabstick

    • Etymology 3

    Possibly a corruption of the genus name

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The tree species , native of South America.
    • Derived terms
    * crab-nut * crab-oil

    Etymology 4

    Alternation of carabiner

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Short for carabiner.

    • References

    * Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523 *

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    beetle

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) bitle, bityl, bytylle, from (etyl) bitula, bitela, .

    Alternative forms

    * (all obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of numerous species of insect in the order Coleoptera characterized by a pair of hard, shell-like front wings which cover and protect a pair of rear wings when at rest.
  • (uncountable) A game of chance in which players attempt to complete a drawing of a beetle, different dice rolls allowing them to add the various body parts.
  • * 1944 , Queen's Nurses' Magazine (volumes 33-35, page 12)
    • Guessing competitions were tackled with much enthusiasm, followed by a beetle drive, and judging by the laughter, this was popular with all.
    Synonyms
    * (insect) bug
    Derived terms
    * beetle-browed * Christmas beetle * click beetle * Colorado beetle * deathwatch beetle * dung beetle * huhu beetle * lady beetle * oil beetle * rhinoceros beetle * rove beetle * stag beetle * water beetle * whirligig beetle

    See also

    * bug * firefly * ladybird * scarab

    Verb

  • To move away quickly, to scurry away.
    • He beetled off on his vacation.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1983 , author= , title=(Gaudy Night) , publisher=Mountaineers Books citation , isbn=978-0-380-01207-7 , page=144 , passage=“
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=2003 , author= , title=(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) , chapter=The Department of Mysteries , isbn=9780439358064 , page=766 , passage=In the falling darkness Harry saw small collections of lights as they passed over more villages, then a winding road on which a single car was beetling its way home through the hills. …}}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=2005 , author=(James Doss) , title=The Witch's Tongue , isbn=9780312991081 , page=178 , passage=Her eyes still closed, his aunt smiled cruelly. “I know what you are dying to say, Bertie. Go ahead—take the cheap shot. I’ll squash you like the nasty little bug you are.” ¶ Thus chastened, the little man beetled away.}}

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . Possibly after , from the fact that some beetles have bushy antennae.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Protruding, jutting, overhanging. (As in beetle brows .)

    • Verb

    (beetl)
  • To loom over; to extend or jut.
    • The heavy chimney beetled over the thatched roof.
  • * Shakespeare
    • To the dreadful summit of the cliff / That beetles o'er his base into the sea.
  • * Wordsworth
    • Each beetling rampart, and each tower sublime.
  • * {{quote-magazine
    • , year=1858 , author=Dean of Pimlico , title=A Story for the New Year , date=January-March , volume=56 (volume 20 of the second series) , page=63 , magazine=Dublin University Magazine reprinted in Littell's Living Age , publisher=Littell, Son & Company citation , passage=I was indeed gently affected, and shared his fears, remembering well the bulging walls of the old house, and the toppling mass of heavy chimney work which beetled over the roof, beneath which these poor doves had made their nest. }}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1941 , author=Chapman Miske , title=The Thing in the Moonlight , passage=Impelled by some obscure quest, I ascended a rift or cleft in this beetling precipice, noting as I did so the black mouths of many fearsome burrows extending from both walls into the depths of the stony plateau.}}

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) betel, from (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A type of mallet with a large wooden head, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.
  • A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; a beetling machine.
    • (Knight)

    Verb

    (beetl)
  • To beat with a heavy mallet.
  • To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine.
    • to beetle cotton goods