CRAYFISH (crayfishes)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: crayfishes   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crayfish mean? 

• CRAYFISH (noun)
  The noun CRAYFISH has 4 senses:

1. warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California

2. tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly

3. small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster

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

  Familiarity information: CRAYFISH used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRAYFISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

crayfish; langouste; rock lobster; spiny lobster

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

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

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

crawfish; crayfish; langouste; rock lobster; sea crawfish; spiny lobster (large edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

crawdad; crawfish; crayfish; ecrevisse

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

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

Holonyms ("crayfish" 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 3

Meaning:

Small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

crawdad; crawdaddy; crawfish; crayfish

Hypernyms ("crayfish" 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 "crayfish"):

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

American crayfish (common large crayfishes of eastern North America)

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

Astacidae; Astacura; family Astacidae (crayfish)

Sense 4

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 ("crayfish" is a kind of...):

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

Meronyms (parts of "crayfish"):

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 ("crayfish" is a member of...):

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

 Context examples 

Some, including crayfishes, live in freshwater habitats; others (e.g., sand fleas, land crabs, and sow bugs) live in moist terrestrial environments.

(Crustacean, NCI Thesaurus)