Again—
"Now a crab in the fire were worth a good groat,
That I might quaff with my Captain Tom tospot."
—Fulwell's Like will to Like, c. 2.
Again—
"And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab."
—Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii., sc. 1.
Upon this last passage, Mr Steevens has given the following examples of the use of this word—
"Yet we will have in store a crab in the fire,