Crœsus (krē"sŭs) noun [ Latin , from German Kroi^sos .] A king of Lydia who flourished in the 6th century b. c. , and was renowned for his vast wealth; hence, a common appellation for a very rich man; as, he is a veritable Crœsus .

Crab (krăb) noun [ Anglo-Saxon crabba ; akin to Dutch krab , G. krabbe , krebs , Icelandic krabbi , Swedish krabba , Danish krabbe , and perhaps to English cramp . Confer Crawfish .]
1. (Zoology) One of the brachyuran Crustacea. They are mostly marine, and usually have a broad, short body, covered with a strong shell or carapace. The abdomen is small and curled up beneath the body.

» The name is applied to all the Brachyura, and to certain Anomura, as the hermit crabs . Formerly, it was sometimes applied to Crustacea in general. Many species are edible, the blue crab of the Atlantic coast being one of the most esteemed. The large European edible crab is Cancer padurus . Soft-shelled crabs are blue crabs that have recently cast their shells. See Cancer ; also, Box crab , Fiddler crab , Hermit crab , Spider crab , etc., under Box , Fiddler . etc.

2. The zodiacal constellation Cancer.

3. [ See Crab , adjective ] (Botany) A crab apple; -- so named from its harsh taste.

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl.
Shak.

4. A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick. [ Obsolete] Garrick.

5. (Mech.) (a) A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc. (b) A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc. (c) A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn. (d) A claw for anchoring a portable machine.

Calling crab . (Zoology) See Fiddler ., noun , 2. -- Crab apple , a small, sour apple, of several kinds; also, the tree which bears it; as, the European crab apple ( Pyrus Malus var. sylvestris ); the Siberian crab apple ( Pyrus baccata ); and the American ( Pyrus coronaria ). -- Crab grass . (Botany) (a) A grass ( Digitaria, or Panicum, sanguinalis ); -- called also finger grass . (b) A grass of the genus Eleusine ( E. Indica ); -- called also dog's-tail grass , wire grass , etc. -- Crab louse (Zoology) , a species of louse ( Phthirius pubis ), sometimes infesting the human body. -- Crab plover (Zoology) , an Asiatic plover ( Dromas ardeola ). -- Crab's eyes , or Crab's stones , masses of calcareous matter found, at certain seasons of the year, on either side of the stomach of the European crawfishes, and formerly used in medicine for absorbent and antacid purposes; the gastroliths. -- Crab spider (Zoology) , one of a group of spiders ( Laterigradæ ); -- called because they can run backwards or sideways like a crab. -- Crab tree , the tree that bears crab applies. -- Crab wood , a light cabinet wood obtained in Guiana, which takes a high polish. McElrath. -- To catch a crab (Nautical) , a phrase used of a rower : (a) when he fails to raise his oar clear of the water ; (b) when he misses the water altogether in making a stroke.

Crab (krăb) transitive verb
1. To make sour or morose; to embitter. [ Obsolete]

Sickness sours or crabs our nature.
Glanvill.

2. To beat with a crabstick. [ Obsolete] J. Fletcher.

Crab intransitive verb (Nautical) To drift sidewise or to leeward, as a vessel. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Crab adjective [ Prob. from the same root as crab , noun ] Sour; rough; austere.

The crab vintage of the neighb'ring coast.
Dryden.

Crab tree (trē`). See under Crab .

Crab-yaws noun (Medicine) A disease in the West Indies. It is a kind of ulcer on the soles of the feet, with very hard edges. See Yaws . Dunglison.

Crabbed adjective [ See Crab , noun ]
1. Characterized by or manifesting, sourness, peevishness, or moroseness; harsh; cross; cynical; -- applied to feelings, disposition, or manners.

Crabbed age and youth can not live together.
Shak.

2. Characterized by harshness or roughness; unpleasant; -- applied to things; as, a crabbed taste.

3. Obscure; difficult; perplexing; trying; as, a crabbed author. " Crabbed eloquence." Chaucer.

How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbed , as dull fools suppose.
Milton.

4. Cramped; irregular; as, crabbed handwriting.

-- Crab"bed*ly , adverb -- Crab"bed*ness , noun

Crabber noun One who catches crabs.

Crabbing noun
1. The act or art of catching crabs.

2. (Falconry) The fighting of hawks with each other.

3. (Woolen Manuf.) A process of scouring cloth between rolls in a machine.

Crabbish (krăb"bĭsh) adjective Somewhat sour or cross.

The whips of the most crabbish Satyristes.
Decker.

Crabby (-bȳ) adjective Crabbed; difficult, or perplexing. "Persius is crabby , because ancient." Marston.

Crabeater (krăb"ēt`ẽr) noun (Zoology) (a) The cobia. (b) An etheostomoid fish of the southern United States ( Hadropterus nigrofasciatus ). (c) A small European heron ( Ardea minuta , and other allied species).

Craber (krā"bẽr) noun (Zoology) The water rat. Walton.

Crabfaced (krăb"fāst`) adjective Having a sour, disagreeable countenance. Beau. & Fl.

Crabsidle (-sī`d'l) intransitive verb To move sidewise, as a crab. [ Jocular]. Southey.

Crabstick (-stĭk`) noun A stick, cane, or cudgel, made of the wood of the crab tree.

Crache (krăch) v. To scratch. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Crack (krăk) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cracked (krăkt); present participle & verbal noun Cracking .] [ Middle English cracken , craken , to crack, break, boast, Anglo-Saxon cracian , cearcian , to crack; akin to Dutch kraken , German krachen ; confer Sanskrit garj to rattle, or perhaps of imitative origin. Confer Crake , Cracknel , Creak .]

1. To break or burst, with or without entire separation of the parts; as, to crack glass; to crack nuts.

2. To rend with grief or pain; to affect deeply with sorrow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze.

O, madam, my old heart is cracked .
Shak.

He thought none poets till their brains were cracked .
Roscommon.

3. To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, to crack a whip.

4. To utter smartly and sententiously; as, to crack a joke. B. Jonson.

5. To cry up; to extol; -- followed by up . [ Low]

To crack a bottle , to open the bottle and drink its contents. -- To crack a crib , to commit burglary. [ Slang] -- To crack on , to put on; as, to crack on more sail, or more steam. [ Colloq.]

Crack intransitive verb
1. To burst or open in chinks; to break, with or without quite separating into parts.

By misfortune it cracked in the coling.
Boyle.

The mirror cracked from side to side.
Tennyson.

2. To be ruined or impaired; to fail. [ Collog.]

The credit . . . of exchequers cracks , when little comes in and much goes out.
Dryden.

3. To utter a loud or sharp, sudden sound.

As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack .
Shak.

4. To utter vain, pompous words; to brag; to boast; -- with of . [ Archaic.]

Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack .
Shak.

Crack noun
1. A partial separation of parts, with or without a perceptible opening; a chink or fissure; a narrow breach; a crevice; as, a crack in timber, or in a wall, or in glass.

2. Rupture; flaw; breach, in a moral sense.

My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw.
Shak.

3. A sharp, sudden sound or report; the sound of anything suddenly burst or broken; as, the crack of a falling house; the crack of thunder; the crack of a whip.

Will the stretch out to the crack of doom?
Shak.

4. The tone of voice when changed at puberty.

Though now our voices
Have got the mannish crack .
Shak.

5. Mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity; as, he has a crack .

6. A crazy or crack-brained person. [ Obsolete]

I . . . can not get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me as a crack and a projector.
Addison.

7. A boast; boasting. [ Obsolete] " Crack and brags." Burton. "Vainglorius cracks ." Spenser.

8. Breach of chastity. [ Obsolete] Shak.

9. A boy, generally a pert, lively boy. [ Obsolete]

Val. 'T is a noble child. Vir. A crack , madam.
Shak.

10. A brief time; an instant; as, to be with one in a crack . [ Eng. & Scot. Colloq.]

11. Free conversation; friendly chat. [ Scot.]

What is crack in English? . . . A crack is . . . a chat with a good, kindly human heart in it.
P. P. Alexander.

Crack adjective Of superior excellence; having qualities to be boasted of. [ Colloq.]

One of our crack speakers in the Commons.
Dickens.

Crack-brained (-brānd`) adjective Having an impaired intellect; whimsical; crazy. Pope.

Crack-loo noun Also Crack"a*loo` A kind of gambling game consisting in pitching coins to or towards the ceiling of a room so that they shall fall as near as possible to a certain crack in the floor. [ Gamblers' Cant, U. S.]

Crackajack noun
1. An individual of marked ability or excellence, esp. in some sport; as, he is a crackajack at tennis. [ Slang]

2. A preparation of popped corn, candied and pressed into small cakes. [ U. S.]

Crackajack adjective Of marked ability or excellence. [ Slang]

Cracked (krăkt) adjective
1. Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.

2. Crack-brained. [ Colloq.]

Cracker (krăk"ẽr) noun
1. One who, or that which, cracks.

2. A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow. [ Obsolete]

What cracker is this same that deafs our ears?
Shak.

3. A small firework, consisting of a little powder inclosed in a thick paper cylinder with a fuse, and exploding with a sharp noise; -- often called firecracker .

4. A thin, dry biscuit, often hard or crisp; as, a Boston cracker ; a Graham cracker ; a soda cracker ; an oyster cracker .

5. A nickname to designate a poor white in some parts of the Southern United States. Bartlett.

6. (Zoology) The pintail duck.

7. plural (Machinery) A pair of fluted rolls for grinding caoutchouc. Knight.

Cracker State Georgia; -- a nickname. See Cracker , noun 5.

Crackle (krăk"k'l) intransitive verb [ Dim. of crack .] To make slight cracks; to make small, sharp, sudden noises, rapidly or frequently repeated; to crepitate; as, burning thorns crackle .

The unknown ice that crackles underneath them.
Dryden.

Crackle noun
1. The noise of slight and frequent cracks or reports; a crackling.

The crackle of fireworks.
Carlyle.

2. (Medicine) A kind of crackling sound or râle, heard in some abnormal states of the lungs; as, dry crackle ; moist crackle . Quain.

3. (Fine Arts) A condition produced in certain porcelain, fine earthenware, or glass, in which the glaze or enamel appears to be cracked in all directions, making a sort of reticulated surface; as, Chinese crackle ; Bohemian crackle .

Crackled (-k'ld) adjective (Fine Arts) Covered with minute cracks in the glaze; -- said of some kinds of porcelain and fine earthenware.

Crackleware noun See Crackle , noun , 3.

Crackling noun
1. The making of small, sharp cracks or reports, frequently repeated.

As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool.
Eccl. vii. 6.

2. The well-browned, crisp rind of roasted pork.

For the first time in his life he tested crackling .
Lamb.

3. plural Food for dogs, made from the refuse of tallow melting.

Cracknel noun [ French craquelin , from D. krakeling , from krakken to crack. See Crack , transitive verb ] A hard brittle cake or biscuit. Spenser.

Cracksman noun , plural Cracksmen (-m e n). A burglar. [ Slang]

Cracovian adjective Of or pertaining to Cracow in Poland.

Cracovienne noun [ French, from Cracow , the city.] (Mus.) A lively Polish dance, in 2-4 time.

Cracowes noun plural Long-toed boots or shoes formerly worn in many parts of Europe; -- so called from Cracow , in Poland, where they were first worn in the fourteenth century. Fairholt.

Cradle (krād'l) noun [ Anglo-Saxon cradel , cradol , probably from Celtic; confer Gael. creathall , Ir. craidhal , W. cryd a shaking or rocking, a cradle; perhaps akin to English crate .]
1. A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots; hence, the place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence; as, a cradle of crime; the cradle of liberty.

The cradle that received thee at thy birth.
Cowper.

No sooner was I crept out of my cradle
But I was made a king, at nine months old.
Shak.

2. Infancy, or very early life.

From their cradles bred together.
Shak.

A form of worship in which they had been educated from their cradles .
Clarendon.

3. (Agriculture) An implement consisting of a broad scythe for cutting grain, with a set of long fingers parallel to the scythe, designed to receive the grain, and to lay it evenly in a swath.

4. (Engraving) A tool used in mezzotint engraving, which, by a rocking motion, raises burrs on the surface of the plate, so preparing the ground.

5. A framework of timbers, or iron bars, moving upon ways or rollers, used to support, lift, or carry ships or other vessels, heavy guns, etc., as up an inclined plane, or across a strip of land, or in launching a ship.

6. (Medicine) (a) A case for a broken or dislocated limb. (b) A frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with the person.

7. (Mining) (a) A machine on rockers, used in washing out auriferous earth; -- also called a rocker . [ U.S.] (b) A suspended scaffold used in shafts.

8. (Carp.) The ribbing for vaulted ceilings and arches intended to be covered with plaster. Knight.

9. (Nautical) The basket or apparatus in which, when a line has been made fast to a wrecked ship from the shore, the people are brought off from the wreck.

Cat's cradle . See under Cat . -- Cradle hole , a sunken place in a road, caused by thawing, or by travel over a soft spot. -- Cradle scythe , a broad scythe used in a cradle for cutting grain.

Cradle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cradled (-d'ld); present participle & verbal noun Cradling (-dl?ng).]
1. To lay to rest, or rock, as in a cradle; to lull or quiet, as by rocking.

It cradles their fears to sleep.
D. A. Clark.

2. To nurse or train in infancy.

He that hath been cradled in majesty will not leave the throne to play with beggars.
Glanvill.

3. To cut and lay with a cradle, as grain.

4. To transport a vessel by means of a cradle.

In Lombardy . . . boats are cradled and transported over the grade.
Knight.

To cradle a picture , to put ribs across the back of a picture, to prevent the panels from warping.

Cradle intransitive verb To lie or lodge, as in a cradle.

Withered roots and husks wherein the acorn cradled .
Shak.

Cradleland (krā"d'l*lănd`) noun Land or region where one was cradled; hence, land of origin.

Cradling noun
1. The act of using a cradle.

2. (Coopering) Cutting a cask into two pieces lengthwise, to enable it to pass a narrow place, the two parts being afterward united and rehooped.

3. (Carp.) The framework in arched or coved ceilings to which the laths are nailed. Knight.

Craft (krȧft) noun [ Anglo-Saxon cræft strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to Old Saxon , G., Swedish , & Danish kraft strength, Dutch kracht , Icelandic kraptr ; perhaps originally, a drawing together, stretching, from the root of English cramp .]
1. Strength; might; secret power. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

2. Art or skill; dexterity in particular manual employment; hence, the occupation or employment itself; manual art; a trade.

Ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
Acts xix. 25.

A poem is the work of the poet; poesy is his skill or craft of making.
B. Jonson.

Since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations,
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute.
Longfellow.

3. Those engaged in any trade, taken collectively; a guild; as, the craft of ironmongers.

The control of trade passed from the merchant guilds to the new craft guilds.
J. R. Green.

4. Cunning, art, or skill, in a bad sense, or applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; skill or dexterity employed to effect purposes by deceit or shrewd devices.

You have that crooked wisdom which is called craft .
Hobbes.

The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft , and put him to death.
Mark xiv. 1.

5. (Nautical) A vessel; vessels of any kind; -- generally used in a collective sense.

The evolutions of the numerous tiny craft moving over the lake.
Prof. Wilson.

Small crafts , small vessels, as sloops, schooners, ets.

Craft transitive verb To play tricks; to practice artifice. [ Obsolete]

You have crafted fair.
Shak.

crafter noun a creator of great skill in the manual arts.
Syn. -- craftsman.
[ WordNet 1.5]

Craftily adverb [ See Crafty .] With craft; artfully; cunningly.

Craftiness noun Dexterity in devising and effecting a purpose; cunning; artifice; stratagem.

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness .
Job. v. 13.

Craftless adjective Without craft or cunning.

Helpless, craftless , and innocent people.
Jer. Taylor.