crab-apple
= crab n.2 1 and 2.
| 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. ii, John had his golden pippins, peaches, and nectarines; poor Miss a crab-apple, sloe, or a blackberry. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 244, I have often met with a crab-apple in a hedge. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. v. 100 The Crab-apple and the sloe, the savage parents of our pippins and plums. |
b. Also with qualifications, like crab n.2 3, as in American crab-apple (Pyrus coronaria), Oregon crab-apple (P. rivularis.).