crabwise

****************************************************************
Ready to tackle a good book this summer? Make a good
read better with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?c11.htm&1
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for July 29 is: 

crabwise   \KRAB-wyze\   adv
     1 : sideways 
    *2 : in a sidling or cautiously indirect manner

Example sentence:
     Rather than asking his parents for a car directly, Noah approached the 
matter crabwise, stressing how inconvenient it was for them to have to drive 
him everywhere.

Did you know?
     There's no reason to be indirect when explaining the etymology of 
"crabwise"; we'll get right to the point. As you might guess, the meaning of 
that word is directly related to that sidling sea creature, the crab. If you 
live near the shore or have visited a beach near the sea, you have probably 
seen crabs scuttling along, often moving sideways and certainly not taking what 
humans would consider the most direct route. The modern meanings of "crabwise" 
were definitely inspired by the crab's lateral or oblique approach to getting 
from one place to another. The word crept into English in the mid-19th century 
and has been sidling into our sentences ever since.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.