ˈcrab-stick
[f. crab n.2]
A stick or cudgel of the wood of the crab-tree.
| 1703 Steele Tend. Husb. i. i, Do you see this Crab-stick, you Dog? 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 26 June, A crab-stick, which was all the weapon he had, brought the fellow to the ground with the first blow. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. iii. vi, Brave young Egalité reaches Switzerland..with a strong crabstick in his hand. |
b. Application of this in chastisement.
| 1830 James Darnley v. 25 My own quantity of crabstick. |
c. fig. A bad-tempered, crabbed person.
| 1841 Lever C. O'Malley xxxv. 193 Our Colonel! the most cross-grained old crabstick. 1877 E. Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss., Crab-stick, a bad-tempered child. |