Library / English Dictionary

CRAWFISH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: crawfishes   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Large edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters

Synonyms:

crawfish; crayfish; langouste; rock lobster; sea crawfish; spiny lobster

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("crawfish" is a kind of...):

lobster (any of several edible marine crustaceans of the families Homaridae and Nephropsidae and Palinuridae)

Meronyms (parts of "crawfish"):

crayfish; langouste; rock lobster; spiny lobster (warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California)

Holonyms ("crawfish" is a member of...):

genus Palinurus; Palinurus (type genus of the family Palinuridae)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster

Synonyms:

crawdad; crawdaddy; crawfish; crayfish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("crawfish" is a kind of...):

decapod; decapod crustacean (crustaceans characteristically having five pairs of locomotor appendages each joined to a segment of the thorax)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crawfish"):

ecrevisse; Old World crayfish (small crayfish of Europe and Asia and western North America)

American crayfish (common large crayfishes of eastern North America)

Holonyms ("crawfish" is a member of...):

Astacidae; Astacura; family Astacidae (crayfish)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly

Synonyms:

crawdad; crawfish; crayfish; ecrevisse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("crawfish" is a kind of...):

shellfish (meat of edible aquatic invertebrate with a shell (especially a mollusk or crustacean))

Holonyms ("crawfish" is a part of...):

ecrevisse; Old World crayfish (small crayfish of Europe and Asia and western North America)

American crayfish (common large crayfishes of eastern North America)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity

Example:

The aggressive investment company pulled in its horns

Synonyms:

back away; back out; crawfish; crawfish out; pull back; pull in one's horns; retreat; withdraw

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Verb group:

draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw (pull back or move away or backward)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

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