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Glite Dictionary
cherrystone

cherrystone

8.6
A medium-sized hard-shell clam often eaten raw or cooked
  • noun
  • /ˈʧɛrɪˌstoʊn/
  • US
translation icon : almeja cherrystone
  • The seafood market had a fresh batch of cherrystone clams perfect for steaming.
  • cherrystone clams

Examples

  • We ordered a dozen cherrystone clams to enjoy on the patio during dinner.

  • In 5-6 hours on the water, each could gather 6-10 bushels of hard clams, a mixture of littlenecks (small), cherrystones (medium), and chowders (large).

    Academic text (1990)

  • He's happy as a cherrystone clam.

    Compulsion (2013)

  • In a poem by Menashe, an awful lot goes on in a short space, and it might seem like cherrystone scrimshaw at first.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Nix spat the cherrystone onto the spoon and lowered it to his plate.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The following day, the women come ashore to do the washing, and all of them gorge themselves on quahogs, cherrystones, and mussels, which make them sick.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Cherrystone clams are often served raw on the half shell with a squeeze of lemon.

Synonyms

cherrystone clam
vscherrystone
  • US
6.3

A medium sized sea animal with a hard shell often eaten cooked or raw

is the shorter form omitting the common noun for the same bivalve

Compounds

cherrystone clam
  • US
6.3

A medium sized sea animal with a hard shell often eaten cooked or raw

How Big

cherrystone
  • US
8.6
littleneck
  • US
1 8.3

Surface Forms

cherrystone singular
cherrystones plural

Morphology

cherrystone = cherry + stone (opaque) = cherry + stone

Although composed of 'cherry' + 'stone', the compound denotes a specific size/class of clam and this specialised meaning cannot be reliably derived by an average learner from the components.

Etymology

Cherrystone probably comes from the simple parts cherry and stone, a picture of a small, hard 'pit' that makes the name easy to remember. That's why a cherrystone is the name for a medium-sized hard-shell clam, bigger than a littleneck and smaller than a chowder clam, often eaten raw or cooked.