[f. CRAB sb.1 + HARROW: cf. E.Fris. krabbe, krab, a small hoe or mattock with bent teeth for tearing up the ground.] A harrow with bent teeth for thoroughly breaking up deeply plowed land; its later form is the drag-harrow.
1775. Ipswich Jrnl., 28 Oct., 3/4. To be Sold by Auction…; Sundry farming implements, consisting of … a pair of crab-harrows.
1796. E. Knight, in Trans. Soc. Enc. Arts, XIV. 205. I also find them (that is the wheels with a short axle-tree) very useful with my crab-harrow.
1806–7. A. Young, Agric. Essex (1813), I. 147. Ox harrows, heavier and more effective in deep working than the common crab harrow of the county.
1846. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VII. I. 51. The lands are dragged with a heavy crab-harrow.
Hence Crab-harrow v.
1844. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 34. Scarifying or crab-harrowing with four horses between the ploughings. Ibid. (1846), VII. I. 51. The lands are … again crab-harrowed and harrowed with common harrows.
