yabby
/ˈjæb.i/
yabby noun: any of various freshwater crayfish, typically of the genus Cherax, valued as food, especially Cherax destructor of southeastern Australia.
Noun
yabby (plural yabbies)
- Any of various freshwater crayfish, typically of the genus Cherax, valued as food, especially Cherax destructor of southeastern Australia.
- Having arrived at night I can speak with some authority on the desolate feeling the road produces: the white fire-scarred trunks, the unsettling vision of yabbies moving from one side of the road to the other.1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 386
- Wiradjuri people in New South Wales also built large dams, and then carried fish and yabbies in coolamons over large distances to stock the new waterholes.2018, Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu, Scribe, published 2020, page 47
- Synonyms:
- crawbob
- A species of marine ghost shrimp, Trypaea australiensis, widely harvested by recreational anglers as bait; a nipper.
- Callianassa australiensis is known in southern New South Wales as the "ghost-nipper" (Dakin, Bennett and Pope, 1952), and in northern New South Wales and Queensland as the "yabby" (a word of aboriginal origin also applied to freshwater crayfish).1961, T. S. Hailstone, W. Stephenson, “The Biology of Callianassa (Trypaea) australiensis Dana 1852 (Crustacea, Thalassinidea)”, in University of Queensland Papers: Department of Zoology, volume I...
- Putting the yabby on a hook takes a little care and hook sizes need to match the physical dimensions of the yabby.2007, J. McEnally, L. McEnally, “Yabbies (saltwater)”, in Julie & Lawrie McEnally's Complete Book of Fishing Baits & Rigs, page 70
Verb (1)
yabby (third-person singular simple present yabbies, present participle yabbying, simple past and past participle yabbied)
- To search, forage, or fish for yabbies.
- He would have known the Merri well, given the affinity between boys and creeks, and he probably fished and yabbied there.2005, F. Mathews, editor, Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture, page 156
- The kids in town now that have the most fun are the so-called 'feral kids'. They spend the whole days doing what we used to do, yabbying and on the river.2006, G. Cowlishaw, editor, Bourke: Our Yarns: The Stories Behind 'Blackfellas, Whitefellas', page 83
Verb (2)
yabby (third-person singular simple present yabbies, present participle yabbying, simple past and past participle yabbied)
- To show disrespect by denouncing or insulting; to diss.
- So Abiola invite Fela to his house for a big party, and Fela have to go as they are family—even though Fela had yabbied Abiola in his song "ITT" [International Thief Thief]. And it's true, Abiola duped the country for that money—everybody knows it.2019, J. Collins, Fela: Katakuta Notes, page 160
Synonyms of yabby
Forms of yabby
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | yabbies |
| alternative form | yabbie |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | yabbies |
| present participle | yabbying |
| past participle | yabbied |
| past | yabbied |
Origin of yabby
Borrowed from Wemba-Wemba yabij.
Unknown.
Words formed from yabby
- bass yabby
- common yabby
- freshwater yabby
- marine yabby
- yabby pump
Phrases with yabby
Words that rhyme with yabby
Questions about yabby
- What does yabby mean?
- Yabby means any of various freshwater crayfish, typically of the genus Cherax, valued as food, especially Cherax destructor of southeastern Australia.
- What part of speech is yabby?
- Yabby can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce yabby?
- Yabby is pronounced /ˈjæb.i/.
- What is the plural of yabby?
- The plural of yabby is yabbies.
Words near yabby in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: yabby (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-yabby.ogg.
Cite this entry: “yabby.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yabby. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.