or cut a crab, verbal phr. (common).—There are various ways of CATCHING A CRAB, as for example, (1) to turn the blade of the oar or ‘feather’ under water at the end of the stroke, and thus be unable to recover; (2) to lose control of the oar at the middle of the stroke by ‘digging’ too deeply; or (3) to miss the water altogether. An English variant is to ‘capture a cancer,’ an American form being ‘TO CATCH A LOBSTER.’—See LOBSTER.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1833. MARRYAT, Peter Simple, II. ix. It was a scene of much confusion—the half-drunken boat’s crew CATHCING CRABS, and falling forward upon the others—those who were quite drunk swearing they would pull.
1844. Puck, p. 134.
| Now, Johnson, thou wilt surely rue! | |
| Didst ever pull before? | |
| Brown had been up to fish at Kew. | |
| And CAUGHT—of CRABS—a store. |
1849. JOHN SMITH (J. D. Lewis), Sketches of Cantabs.
| Hark the gun has gone thrice, and now off in a trice, | |
| With the Johnians we’re soon on a level, | |
| When Hicks whose no dab with his oar CUTS A CRAB, | |
| And our coxswain he swears like the devil. |
1857. TOM HOOD, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. Awful muff! Can’t pull two strokes without CATCHING as many CRABS; he’d upset the veriest tub on the river.
1872. Daily News, 10 Sept. ‘London Rowing Club Regatta.’ The excitement and fun engendered by the numerous scrimmages resulted in ‘fouls’ and CRABS of most portentous magnitude.
