Crab, to offend, or insult; to expose or defeat a robbery, to inform against. Crab, in the sense of “to offend,” is Old English.
“If I think one thing and speak another,
I will both CRAB Christ and our Ladie His mother.”
Crabs, in dicing, a pair of aces.
Crabshells, or TROTTER-CASES, shoes.—See [CARTS].
Crack, the favourite horse in a race. Steeplechase and hunting CRACKS have been made the subjects of well-known pictures, and “the gallops of the CRACKS” is a prominent line in the sporting papers.
Crack, first-rate, excellent; “a CRACK HAND,” an adept; a “CRACK article,” a good one. “A CRACK regiment,” a fashionable one.—Old.
Crack, dry firewood.—Modern Gipsy.
Crack, “in a CRACK (of the finger and thumb),” in a moment.
Crack, to break into a house; “CRACK A CRIB,” to commit burglary.
Crack a bottle, to drink. Shakspeare uses CRUSH in the same slang sense.