yabby

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjæb.i/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æbi

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Wemba-Wemba yabij.

Cherax destructor (freshwater yabby)

Alternative forms

• yabbie

Noun

yabby (plural yabbies)

1. (Australia) Any of various freshwater crayfish, typically of the genus Cherax, valued as food, especially Cherax destructor of southeastern Australia. [from 19th c.]
   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 386:

     Having arrived at night I can speak with some authority on the desolate feeling the road produces: the white fire-scarred trunks, the unsettling vision of yabbies moving from one side of the road to the other.

   • 2018, Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu, Scribe, published 2020, page 47:

     Wiradjuri people in New South Wales also built large dams, and then carried fish and yabbies in coolamons over large distances to stock the new waterholes.

2. (Australia, chiefly Queensland) A species of marine ghost shrimp, Trypaea australiensis, widely harvested by recreational anglers as bait; a nipper. [from 20th c.]
   • 1961, T. S. Hailstone, W. Stephenson, “The Biology of Callianassa (Trypaea) australiensis Dana 1852 (Crustacea, Thalassinidea)”, in University of Queensland Papers: Department of Zoology‎^[1], volume I, number 12, page 260:

     Callianassa australiensis is known in southern New South Wales as the "ghost-nipper" (Dakin, Bennett and Pope, 1952), and in northern New South Wales and Queensland as the "yabby" (a word of aboriginal origin also applied to freshwater crayfish).

   • 2007, J. McEnally, L. McEnally, “Yabbies (saltwater)”, in Julie & Lawrie McEnally's Complete Book of Fishing Baits & Rigs‎^[2], page 70:

     Putting the yabby on a hook takes a little care and hook sizes need to match the physical dimensions of the yabby.

   • 2007, J. Woodford, chapter 12, in Whitecap‎^[3], page 132:

     Now she held the net in front of the pump so Penny could empty its contents. The first suck was mud, the second sometimes yielded a couple of yabbies but on the third, three or four yabbies nearly always spurted out, flicking their tails, weakly opening and closing their nippers.

Synonyms

• (only Cherax destructor) crawbob, crawchie
• (only Trypaea australiensis) ghost nipper

Derived terms

• bass yabby
• freshwater yabby
• marine yabby
• yabby pump

See also

• gilgie, jilgie
• marron

Verb

yabby (third-person singular simple present yabbies, present participle yabbying, simple past and past participle yabbied)

1. (intransitive) To search, forage, or fish for yabbies.
   • 2005, F. Mathews, editor, Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture‎^[4], page 156:

     He would have known the Merri well, given the affinity between boys and creeks, and he probably fished and yabbied there.

   • 2006, G. Cowlishaw, editor, Bourke: Our Yarns: The Stories Behind 'Blackfellas, Whitefellas'‎^[5], page 83:

     The kids in town now that have the most fun are the so-called 'feral kids'. They spend the whole days doing what we used to do, yabbying and on the river.

   • 2019, C. Zagar, Your Feet Take You To Where Your Heart Is‎^[6], page 90:

     "Can we go yabbying?" "It'll be too hot," I say. "It's never too hot for yabbying." We are creating Christmas memories for our son.

Usage notes

Often used phrasally (go yabbying), by analogy with go fishing.

Etymology 2

Unknown.

Verb

yabby (third-person singular simple present yabbies, present participle yabbying, simple past and past participle yabbied)

1. (transitive, Nigeria, slang) To show disrespect by denouncing or insulting; to diss.
   • 2019, J. Collins, Fela: Katakuta Notes‎^[7], page 160:

     So Abiola invite Fela to his house for a big party, and Fela have to go as they are family—even though Fela had yabbied Abiola in his song "ITT" [International Thief Thief]. And it's true, Abiola duped the country for that money—everybody knows it.

Related terms

• yab
• yabbi