Australia Any of various freshwater crayfish, typically of the genus Cherax, valued as food, especially Cherax destructor of southeastern Australia.
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.1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 386:
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.2018, Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu, Scribe, published 2020, page 47:
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Australia A species of marine ghost shrimp, Trypaea australiensis, widely harvested by recreational anglers as bait; a nipper.
Chiefly Queensland
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).1961, T. S. Hailstone, W. Stephenson, “The Biology of Callianassa (Trypaea) australiensis Dana 1852 (Crustacea, Thalassinidea)”, in University of Queensland Papers: Department of Zoology, volume I, number 12, page 260:
Putting the yabby on a hook takes a little care and hook sizes need to match the physical dimensions of the yabby.2007, J. McEnally, L. McEnally, “Yabbies (saltwater)”, in Julie & Lawrie McEnally's Complete Book of Fishing Baits & Rigs, page 70:
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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.2007, J. Woodford, chapter 12, in Whitecap, page 132:
He would have known the Merri well, given the affinity between boys and creeks, and he probably fished and yabbied there.2005, F. Mathews, editor, Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture, page 156:
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.2006, G. Cowlishaw, editor, Bourke: Our Yarns: The Stories Behind 'Blackfellas, Whitefellas', page 83:
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"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.2019, C. Zagar, Your Feet Take You To Where Your Heart Is, page 90:
yabby
verb
Etymology Unknown.
1
Nigeria, Slang To show disrespect by denouncing or insulting; to diss.
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.2019, J. Collins, Fela: Katakuta Notes, page 160: