[f. CRAB sb.2]
1. The wild apple-tree.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 646. Hec arbutus, crabtre.
1481. in Ripon Ch. Acts, 340. Duos crabtrees crescentes.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 134. To sell … the crabbe-trees to myllers, to make cogges and ronges.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 47 b. An Appel tre … is called in ye Southe Countre, a Crab tre.
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. i. 205. We haue Some old Crab-trees here at home, That will not be grafted to your Rallish.
1703. Steele, Tend. Husb., I. iii. There’s a crabtree, near our house, which … has brush’d our jackets, from Father to son for several generations.
1794. Southey, Retrospect, Poems (1795), 8.
| The crab-tree, whence we hid the secret hoard, | |
| With roasted crabs to deck the wintry board. |
2. attrib. a. Of or pertaining to the crab-tree. b. Resembling a crab-tree; crooked, knotted.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 137. Graffe it in a crabbe-tree stocke.
1597–8. Bp. Hall, Sat. (Britten & Holl.). The crab-tree porter of the Guild Hall gates.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iv. 7. Fetch me a dozen Crab-tree staues, and strong ones.
1678. (ed. 2) Bunyan, Pilgr., I. (1879), 105. He getteth him a grievous Crab-tree Cudgel … and beats them fearfully.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 1 May, 7/1. The cadets suffered themselves to be beaten with a crabtree stick, kicked, and pummelled without offering the slightest resistance.
c. Comb., as crab-tree-faced, -like adjs.
1563. B. Googe, Eglogs (Arb.), 117. Of bodie bygge and strong he was, and somwhat *Crabtre faced.
c. 1600. Day, Begg. Bednell Gr., II. ii. I lik’d him not, he had such a crabtree-fac’d countenance.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 55. Zeno the crabbe-tree-fac’d Stoicke.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 237. As your body is crooked, *crabtree like, and growen out of all order, so your mynde is.
Crab-tree2: see CRAB sb.3
