CRABBED

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crabbed mean? 

• CRABBED (adjective)
  The adjective CRABBED has 1 sense:

1. annoyed and irritable

  Familiarity information: CRABBED used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRABBED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Annoyed and irritable

Synonyms:

bad-tempered; crabbed; crabby; cross; fussy; grouchy; grumpy; ill-tempered

Similar:

ill-natured (having an irritable and unpleasant disposition)

Derivation:

crabbedness (a disposition to be ill-tempered)

 Context examples 

I always liked McArdle, the crabbed, old, round-backed, red-headed news editor, and I rather hoped that he liked me.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The bitter check had wrung from me some tears; and now, as I sat poring over the crabbed characters and flourishing tropes of an Indian scribe, my eyes filled again.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But Godfrey was the heir to this crabbed old nobleman, and it was quite certain that the news of his marriage would have been the end of his inheritance.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His sisters were gone to Morton in my stead: I sat reading Schiller; he, deciphering his crabbed Oriental scrolls.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is, especially such a language as this crabbed but glorious Deutsch.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)