Word.ws English Dictionary

catch a crab

catch a crab verb: to strike the blade of the oar against the water when moving the oar back between power strokes.

Verb

catch a crab (third-person singular simple present catches a crab, present participle catching a crab, simple past and past participle caught a crab)

  1. To strike the blade of the oar against the water when moving the oar back between power strokes.
    • I blast off the first few strokes with all the anger and frustration I feel towards Rachel. It works against me. I catch a crab and totally lose it. The boat swings sideways and we have to easy oar or risk slamming into the bank.2014, Pip Harry, Head of the River, page 82

Forms of catch a crab

third-person singular presentcatches a crab
present participlecatching a crab
past participlecaught a crab
pastcaught a crab

Questions about catch a crab

What does catch a crab mean?
Catch a crab means to strike the blade of the oar against the water when moving the oar back between power strokes.
What part of speech is catch a crab?
Catch a crab is a verb.
What is the past tense of catch a crab?
The past tense of catch a crab is caught a crab.

Words near catch a crab in the dictionary

  1. catch a body
  2. catch a break
  3. catch a buzz
  4. catch a case
  5. catch a cold
  6. catch a crab
  7. catch a date
  8. catch a dick
  9. catch a fade
  10. catch a falling knife
  11. catch a packet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch a crab (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “catch a crab.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catch_a_crab. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.