crabfaced

English

Etymology

crab +‎ faced, Relating to being sour in temper as a crab-apple is in taste.

Adjective

crabfaced (comparative more crabfaced, superlative most crabfaced)

  1. Having a sour, disagreeable countenance.

Quotations
  • 1619-1623, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger (authors), The Little French Lawyer:
    He that's sad, A crab-faced mistress cleave to him for this year!

References
  • Rev. A. Smythe Palmer, Folk-Etymology: A Dictionary of Corrupted Words (1882, c. renewed 1969)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for crabfaced in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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