hard-shell clam
- noun
- /hɑrd-ʃɛl klæm/
- US
:
almeja de concha dura
- The shells of the hard-shell clam were once used as wampum by Native Americans.
Examples
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You can find hard-shell clams in many seafood dishes at local restaurants.
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We enjoyed a delicious soup made from fresh hard-shell clam last night.
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Local fishermen harvest hard-shell clam from the coastal waters every summer.
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I love eating hard-shell clams in the summer.
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The hard-shell clam is a popular dish in coastal restaurants.
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The grocery store sells hard-shell clams that are perfect for making chowder.
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In the past, hard-shell clams were used as a form of currency among certain Native American tribes.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A large round clam with a hard shell that people eat on the east coast of North America
A large edible American clam with a heavy rounded shell often used in chowder
A large edible clam with a hard shell that was used as money by some Native American tribes
A large edible clam from the Atlantic coast whose shell was once used as money by Native Americans
A large clam you can eat with a hard rounded shell
How Hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
hard-shell + clam
The referent is directly describable by composing 'hard'+'shell' (a thick or rigid shell) with 'clam' (a bivalve), so a B1 learner who knows those words can infer this denotes a clam with a hard shell. This is a regular descriptive compound following common English word-formation patterns (cf. 'soft-shell clam'), so the meaning is transparently derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Hard-shell clam is a name for a clam with a very hard shell. Long ago people sometimes made beads from those shells and used them as 'money', and the clams were eaten too, so the name reminds us of the thick shell and how people used it.