shrimp

[ shrimp ]
See synonyms for: shrimpshrimps on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural shrimps, (especially collectively) shrimp for 1.
  1. any of several small, long-tailed, chiefly marine crustaceans of the decapod suborder Natania, certain species of which are used as food.

  2. Informal. a diminutive or insignificant person.

verb (used without object)
  1. to catch or try to catch shrimps.

adjective
  1. (of food) made with or containing shrimp: shrimp salad.

  2. of or relating to shrimp or their catching, processing, and marketing: a shrimp boat.

Origin of shrimp

1
1300–50; Middle English shrimpe crustacean, puny person; akin to Middle High German schrimpfen to contract, Old English scrimman to shrink

Other words from shrimp

  • shrimplike, adjective

Words Nearby shrimp

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use shrimp in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for shrimp

shrimp

/ (ʃrɪmp) /


noun
  1. any of various chiefly marine decapod crustaceans of the genus Crangon and related genera, having a slender flattened body with a long tail and a single pair of pincers

  2. any of various similar but unrelated crustaceans, such as the opossum shrimp and mantis shrimp

  1. Also called: freshwater shrimp any of various freshwater shrimplike amphipod crustaceans of the genus Gammarus, esp G. pulex

  2. Also called: sand shrimp any of various shrimplike amphipod crustaceans of the genus Gammarus, esp G. locusta: See also opossum shrimp

  3. informal a diminutive person, esp a child

verb
  1. (intr) to fish for shrimps

Origin of shrimp

1
C14: probably of Germanic origin; compare Middle Low German schrempen to shrink; see scrimp, crimp

Derived forms of shrimp

  • shrimper, noun

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