crabbed: [13] Because of their tendency to deploy their pincers at the slightest provocation, and also perhaps because of their sidelong method of locomotion, crabs seem always to have had a reputation for being short-tempered and perverse. Hence the creation of the adjective crabbed, which literally means ‘like a crab’. Its meaning has subsequently been influenced by crab the apple, famous for its sourness. (The semantically similar crabby is a 16th-century formation.)
crabbed (adj.)
late 14c., "peevish, angry, ill-tempered," from crab (n.1), from the crab's combative disposition; mid-15c. as "resembling a crab" in reference to crookedness. Of taste "bitter, harsh," late 14c., from crab (n.2).
雙語例句
1. His mature composi tions are generally considered the more cerebral and crabbed.
他成熟的作品一般被認為是觸動理智的和難于理解的.
來自《現(xiàn)代英漢綜合大詞典》
2. He met a crabbed, cantankerous director.
他碰上了一位壞脾氣、愛爭吵的主管。
來自辭典例句
3. The crabbed, patient experimenting of these Arab alchemists spread into the Christian world.
這些阿拉伯煉金術士難以捉摸、堅韌不拔的實驗方法傳人基督教世界.
來自英漢非文學 - 歷史
4. The tightly packed words crabbed across the page.
緊緊擠在一起的字斜斜地橫在頁面上.
來自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
5. Broadside winds crabbed the boat close to riverbank.