Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adv. Sideways.
- adv. In a furtive or circumspect manner; indirectly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. In the manner of a crab; sideways.
- adj. Incidental.
- adv. In the manner of a crab; sideways.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. (of movement) at an angle
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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Layered with countless motifs from Albanian folklore involving betrayal, incest, shame and horror, as well as tragic themes from Plato, Virgil and Cervantes, this section of the narrative is a "crabwise" unfolding of their last 40 days, compiled by a researcher whose own obsession with the case is never explained, but who is ultimately confounded by the unanswerable question: "What right have we got in this pitch-black night to ask about things that are beyond our powers to see?"
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I wouldn't say that that evening was born a lifelong passion for theatre – it's been a slow, crabwise journey to get there – but it did do something.
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With a sharp pull and a crabwise motion, it was possible to open the door and pass through it.
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But the crabwise trajectory of their investigation suggests that the quest is just a framework on which to hang Schacht's energetic soliloquies.
Sam Munson's ÂNovember Criminals,' about a disaffected teen in Washington, D.C.
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Metre-high players scuttle crabwise across the pitch.
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The horse had run backwards, cantered crabwise, turned in circles, ignored every instruction and used his vast muscle power to make a fool of the slight man on his back.
They didn’t read Pitchfork or Stereogum or Gorilla vs. Bear or Hipster Runoff
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He ducked his head beneath his tunic, turning his face against the wall, and crept, crabwise and even more slowly, up the stairs.
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The little homestead was on the move, inching crabwise across the Pilliga.
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That was a while ago, and he can't walk these days unless he clings to furniture and creeps along crabwise, so I'm hoping he'll have better luck getting the equipment in Reno.
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Yet the political parody seldom catches fire, and the story stops dead in its crabwise tracks for some frantic nonsense in which a greedy landlord turns predatory developer, and Mariah Carey plays herself with agonizing difficulty.
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