lobster tail
7
3.3
- noun
- /ˈlɒbstər teɪl/
:
cola de langosta
- Lobster tails must measure at least 5 inches long.
- pounds of lobster tail
And then there's probably like a third of the lobster tail left on the plate.
- And then there's probably like a third of the lobster tail left on the plate.
- Butcher box, which is full of lobster tails, steaks, chickens.
- Da sent me steaks, crab legs, lobster tails.
- And they was taking a cube rolls, lobster tails and drinking the alcohol.
Examples
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Two steaks, a couple of lobster tails.
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The fisherman with 10 traps gets 8 to 30 pounds of lobster tails per day.
Academic text (1996) -
"Two big lobster tails at market price is what we'll have."
Fiction book (1993) -
The lobster tails and conch meat are frozen aboard the vessels.
Academic text (1996) -
I want a lobster tail in butter-wine sauce, and we girls want a bottle of Moet.
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Two lobster tails, hash browns, and Italian dressing.
Fiction book (1993) -
The butterflied lobster tails came along, slightly curled and bright orange-red.
Fiction book (1993) -
I'd like some French Onion Soup, crabmeat cocktail, broiled lobster tails, and Wild Turkey on the rocks, please.
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Two divers go on each canoe, and on their best days may get 20-40 pounds of lobster tails (personal communication).
Academic text (1996) -
For dinner, we enjoyed a delicious lobster tail with melted butter.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the tail section of a lobster, especially the edible meat' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'lobster' (a sea-dwelling crustacean) with 'tail' (rear appendage). The noun+noun partitive/compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Lobster tail is a simple name made from the animal and the body part: the lobster is a sea animal and the tail is its back end. Because the tail holds most of the meat, cooks and shops often sell the 'tail section' by itself, so lobster tail came to mean that edible 'tail section'.