crabwiseadverb
uk/ˈkræb.waɪz/us/ˈkræb.waɪz/UKIf you move crabwise, you move sideways or carefully and not directly.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Backwards, sideways and back and forth
- anticlockwise
- aside
- back
- back and forth idiom
- backward
- backwards
- broadside
- counterclockwise
- hither and thither idiom
- retro
- right/wrong way round idiom
- side
- sideways
- stand
- stand back
- there
- there and back idiom
- to and fro
- to-ing and fro-ing
- wrong
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Examples from literature
- She crept crabwise up the bank, and put on her stockings and slippers.
- The damaged snapper-boat instantly blasted from its nose tubes, decelerated, and went into reverse, flipping through space crabwise as it tried to regain the safety of the cruiser.
- To his astonishment the stranger's mobile lips twisted in a snarl and he edged crabwise toward the bushes bordering the glen.