To wriggle out of a difficulty; to retreat.
1848. No sooner did they see the old British Lion rising up from his lair and shaking the dew-drops from his mane, than they crawfished back to 49° [in the Oregon matter].—Mr. Goggin of Virginia, House of Repr., Feb. 1: Cong. Globe, p. 277.
1853. Of course I crawfished.—Daily Morning Herald (St. Louis), Feb. 5.
1856. I’ll send you the paper next week, and if you don’t allow that there’s been no such publication, weekly or serial, since the days of the “Bunkum Flagstaff,” I’ll craw fish, and take to reading Johnson’s Dictionary.—G. H. Derby (‘John Phœnix’), ‘Phœnixiana,’ p. 208. (Italics in the original.)
a. 1860. We … retreat, retrograde, crawfish, or climb down.—Cairo Times, n.d. (Bartlett).
1888. He crawfished out of the issue by claiming that he didn’t drink.—San Francisco Examiner, March 22 (Farmer).
1902. They may try to make me take back water, but I never did crawfish.—W. N. Harben, ‘Abner Daniel,’ p. 103.
1909. The witness continued: “I didn’t want to crawfish.” “You didn’t want to crawfish?” from Mr. Fitzgerald; “I believe the correct pronunciation of that is crayfish.” “Well, crawfish is good enough for common people.”—The Oregonian, Oct. 14.
