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# crab

«crab» in Mova's school dictionary: **a sea or shore animal with a hard shell, eight legs and…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a crab, crabs; crab — the food); verb (crab — rare)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A crab is a sea or shore animal with a hard shell, eight legs and two big claws (pincers), which often walks sideways. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#m1)

2) Crab is the meat of this animal eaten as food. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#m2)

3) Informally, a crab is a grumpy person. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In nature lessons at the seashore, crabs live in rock pools and on beaches; they are crustaceans. Children go crabbing with a line and bucket. Phrases: hermit crab, crab claws, walk like a crab, crabby (grumpy).

### examples

- A crab scuttled sideways across the sand. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x1)
- We found a little crab in the rock pool. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x2)
- Be careful, the crab's claws can pinch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x3)
- A hermit crab lives in an empty shell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x4)
- Crabs have hard shells to protect them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x5)
- Dad ordered crab at the seafood restaurant. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x6)
- Put the crab back gently where you found it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x7)
- “Of course,” said the young crab. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/#x8)

### note

Countable for the animal (a crab), uncountable for the food (some crab). A crab has ten legs if you count the two claws. Adjective: crabby (grumpy). Be gentle with sea creatures and put them back where you found them.

### In the corpora

- [Sally Lightfoot crabs are bright red crabs that leap from rock to rock, eat algae and pick ticks off marine iguanas.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions/16/)
- [Woodlice need damp places and hide under logs and stones; they are crustaceans, related to crabs and shrimps, not insects.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/220-spiders-and-other-minibeasts-under-logs-and-stones/11/)
- [Picture a beach where hermit crabs line up by size beside one big empty shell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs/5/)
- [An old Crab tells her daughter "never to lose your temper", and the daughter snaps "Hold your tongue, Ma!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/6-alice-ch3-part2-a-long-tale/16/)
- [He rises up: a King Crab so big that his shell touches Sarawak on one side and Pahang on the other.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/91-justso-crab-2-pau-amma-loses-his-shell/7/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «crab» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crab/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.