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Glite Dictionary
🦀 A large crab 🍽️ Edible crab meat
Dungeness crab

Dungeness crab

1 5.1
A large edible crab that lives along the Pacific coast of North America
  • noun
  • /ˈdʌndʒənɪs kræb/
  • US
translation icon : cangrejo Dungeness
  • Dungeness crab season typically starts in late fall along the Pacific Northwest.
  • Dungeness crab salad
  • Dungeness crab season
  • Dungeness crab cakes

Examples

  • The restaurant's special tonight is fresh Dungeness crab served with drawn butter.

  • We caught several Dungeness crabs on our trip to the Oregon coast.

  • I love eating Dungeness crab during the summer.

  • Have you ever tried Dungeness crabs?

  • The restaurant featured a special dish of Dungeness crab served with a garlic butter sauce.

  • Many seafood lovers consider Dungeness crab to be a delicacy because of its sweet, tender meat.

  • During the winter months, Dungeness crab is often a popular choice at holiday feasts along the Pacific coast.

Synonyms

Cancer magister
vsDungeness crab
  • Specialized
8.4

A large crab from the Pacific coast of North America that people eat

is the everyday common name used for the same seafood prized for sweet meat

How Big

Dungeness crab
  • US
1 5.1
blue crab
  • US
2 3.4
hermit crab
4 3.6

Surface Forms

Dungeness crab singular
Dungeness crabs plural

Morphology

Dungeness + crab

This is a compositional noun-noun combination: 'Dungeness' (a place-name) + 'crab' (a marine crustacean), so a learner who knows both constituents will infer it denotes a type of crab or a crab from the Dungeness area. The phrase is not idiomatic or metaphorical and follows a common cross-linguistic pattern of place-name + animal, so its meaning is immediately derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Dungeness crab gets its name from a place called Dungeness on the Pacific coast where fishermen found many of these large crabs; that's why the name now refers to the species.