crabbed

adj. 暴躁的；难懂的；晦涩的；潦草的

v. 抱怨；侧航（crab的过去分词）

英文词源

crabbed: crabbed: [13] Because of their tendency to deploy their pincers at the slightest provocation, and also perhaps because of their sidelong method of locomotion, crabs seem always to have had a reputation for being short-tempered and perverse. Hence the creation of the adjective crabbed, which literally means ‘like a crab’. Its meaning has subsequently been influenced by crab the apple, famous for its sourness. (The semantically similar crabby is a 16th-century formation.)
crabbed (adj.): late 14c., "peevish, angry, ill-tempered," from crab (n.1), from the crab's combative disposition; mid-15c. as "resembling a crab" in reference to crookedness. Of taste "bitter, harsh," late 14c., from crab (n.2).

1. His mature composi tions are generally considered the more cerebral and crabbed.: 他成熟的作品一般被认为是触动理智的和难于理解的.

3. The crabbed, patient experimenting of these Arab alchemists spread into the Christian world.: 这些阿拉伯炼金术士难以捉摸、坚韧不拔的实验方法传人基督教世界.