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crawdaddy

crawdaddy

1 9.9
A small freshwater animal like a tiny lobster
  • noun
  • /ˈkrɔːˌdædi/
  • Informal
: cangrejo de río
  • We're taking The Crawdaddy.

Examples

  • Oh, I just had to convince him that all the sick kids in his ward deserve to love crawdaddys like everybody else.

  • Over a relaxed dinner before the concert, a Crawdaddy companion had said he had a feeling that something bad could happen at this concert.

    Blog text (14)
  • God, there was like a live crawdaddy in there.

  • Just gonna do a crawdaddy here and back off.

  • That's a heck of a crawdaddy, isn't it?

  • Crawdaddy!

  • She would grow up talking Cajun, eating crawdaddies, and running barefoot.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • At the picnic, we caught several crawdaddies from the river to cook for dinner.

  • The chef decided to include crawdaddies in the seafood stew for extra flavor.

  • While fishing, we stumbled upon a hole filled with crawdaddies hiding under the rocks.

Synonyms

crawfish
vscrawdaddy
  • US
13 3.6

A small animal like a lobster that lives in fresh water and is eaten

is limited to freshwater habitats and does not imply being eaten
crayfish
vscrawdaddy
6 3.0

A small fresh water animal like a tiny lobster with claws that lives in rivers and streams

is a general freshwater crustacean term that does not stress the pincers
crawdad
vscrawdaddy
  • Informal
3 8.2

A small freshwater animal like a tiny lobster that lives in creeks

is the neutral term for the same freshwater crustacean across dialects

Surface Forms

crawdaddy singular
crawdaddies plural

Etymology

Crawdaddy is an informal American name for a small freshwater creature, the same animal called crawfish or crayfish. It combines craw (from crawfish) with the familiar word daddy, so a helpful way to remember it is to imagine a 'daddy' crawfish, a little 'lobster' in the creek.