Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
cherrystone clam

cherrystone clam

6.3
A medium sized sea animal with a hard shell often eaten cooked or raw
  • noun
  • /ˈʧɛrɪˌstoʊn klæm/
  • US
translation icon : almeja cherrystone
  • The restaurant offers a fresh platter of cherrystone clams served raw on ice.

Examples

  • For dinner, we plan to steam some cherrystone clams with garlic and butter.

  • The recipe calls for fresh cherrystone clams, garlic, and white wine sauce.

  • Fishermen sort the catch by size, separating cherrystone clams from littlenecks and chowders.

  • We ordered a dozen cherrystone clams on the half shell for our appetizer.

  • I ordered a plate of cherrystone clams for dinner.

  • The cherrystone clam is popular in seafood dishes.

  • When I visited the beach, I enjoyed a delicious chowder made with fresh cherrystone clams.

Synonyms

quahog
vscherrystone clam
  • US
1 9.9

A large round clam with a hard shell that people eat on the east coast of North America

is medium-sized rather than being the larger round species
cherrystone
vscherrystone clam
  • US
8.6

A medium-sized hard-shell clam often eaten raw or cooked

is the same but includes the animal term in its name

How Big

cherrystone clam
  • US
6.3
littleneck
  • US
1 8.3

Surface Forms

cherrystone clam singular
cherrystone clams plural

Morphology

cherrystone + clam

The phrase is compositional: 'cherrystone' names a particular kind of clam and 'clam' is the generic category, so 'cherrystone clam' simply denotes a clam of that variety. This noun+noun subtype naming pattern is a standard and transparent morphological pattern that a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand.

Etymology

Cherrystone clam may come from a place called Cherrystone on the US east coast, where people long ago gathered this medium-sized hard 'clam'. That's why today cherrystone clam means a medium-sized hard clam, bigger than a 'littleneck' but smaller than a 'chowder' clam, often eaten cooked or raw.