lobster

CEFRB1

/ˈlɒb.stə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A sea animal with a hard shell and large claws.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Various other crustaceans that resemble true lobsters:, A spiny lobster, also called the rock lobster, a crustacean of the Palinuridae family, pinkish red in colour, with a hard, spiny shell but no claws, which is used as a seafood.

Examples

  • Have some frozen lobster at any rate.

  • I don't want to eat a live lobster.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A crustacean of the Nephropidae family, dark green or blue-black in colour turning bright red when cooked, with a hard shell and claws, which is used as a seafood.

  2. Various other crustaceans that resemble true lobsters:

  3. A spiny lobster, also called the rock lobster, a crustacean of the Palinuridae family, pinkish red in colour, with a hard, spiny shell but no claws, which is used as a seafood.

More examples

In context

  • Have some lobster at any rate.

  • […] how the troops came marching out for evening exercise under Captain Preston; how pedestrians and street urchins taunted them, shouting "Lobsters," "Bloody-backs," and flinging snow-balls, turnips, […]

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The diner cracked the hard shell of the blank to get the meat from its claws.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English loppestere, lopster, from Old English loppestre, lopustre, lopystre, of uncertain origin. Some believe it to be a corruption of Latin lō̆custa (“grasshopper, locust”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre. In Latin, the phrase lō̆custa marīna (literally "sea-grasshopper") signified a type of crustacean (shrimp or lobster). Alternatively, from Old English lobbe, loppe (“spider”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre, equivalent to lop + -ster.