CRAWFISH (crawfishes)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: crawfishes   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crawfish mean? 

• CRAWFISH (noun)
  The noun CRAWFISH has 3 senses:

1. tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly

2. small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster

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

  Familiarity information: CRAWFISH used as a noun is uncommon.

• CRAWFISH (verb)
  The verb CRAWFISH has 1 sense:

1. make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity

  Familiarity information: CRAWFISH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRAWFISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

crawdad; crawfish; crayfish; ecrevisse

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

crawdad; crawdaddy; crawfish; crayfish

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:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

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

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)

• CRAWFISH (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

The aggressive investment company pulled in its horns

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

 Context examples 

On my imparting this discovery in confidence to Peggotty, she informed me that her brother dealt in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish; and I afterwards found that a heap of these creatures, in a state of wonderful conglomeration with one another, and never leaving off pinching whatever they laid hold of, were usually to be found in a little wooden outhouse where the pots and kettles were kept.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He soon returned, greatly improved in appearance; but so rubicund, that I couldn't help thinking his face had this in common with the lobsters, crabs, and crawfish,—that it went into the hot water very black, and came out very red.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I went into the out-house to look about me; and the very same lobsters, crabs, and crawfish possessed by the same desire to pinch the world in general, appeared to be in the same state of conglomeration in the same old corner.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)