blue crab
2
3.4
- noun
- /bluː kræb/
- US
:
cangrejo azul
- Chef Susan Spicer selects a Louisiana-caught blue crab at New Orleans' Crescent City Farmers Market.
- dredge blue crabs
- blue crab abundance
- catch blue crabs
And bring the product in, you know, scallops, shrimp, flounder, crabs, Blue Crabs.
- And bring the product in, you know, scallops, shrimp, flounder, crabs, Blue Crabs.
Examples
-
After fishermen dump the dredges on deck, the mate picks out the blue crabs and places them dorsal side upward in bushel baskets.
Academic text (1990) -
Few people go after blue crabs eastward of Trujillo.
Academic text (1996) -
You guys have got to try the Maryland blue crab.
-
Hey, you want to catch some blue crabs?
-
Since then, the abundance of blue crabs has apparently fallen.
Academic text (1990) -
They're gobbling up the blue crabs in the bay.
Academic text (2001) -
Along with oysters, the Chesapeake is best known for its blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, shown here in barrels at the dock.
Academic text (2005) -
From the late 1800s through the 1930s, crews delivered their catches of blue crabs to Fulton Market in their dredge boats.
Academic text (1990) -
With two wizened fingers, she skillfully removed a blue crab, which she turned over to inspect, its claws waving frantically in Peter's face.
Fiction book (1998) -
You guys have got to try the Maryland blue crab because its sweet meat is legendary.
Synonyms
A blue crab eaten for its meat and found on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America
How Big
- US
1
3.3
- US
1
5.1
- US
2
3.4
4
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'blue crab' is a straightforward adjectival noun phrase whose meaning—'a crab that is blue in color'—is directly derived from the constituents 'blue' (color) + 'crab' (animal). This color-adjective + noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English modification patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the referent even if they lack species-specific knowledge.
Etymology
The name blue crab comes from the crab's bright blue shell and claws that people saw along North America's coasts. That's why blue crab now means the specific crab known for its 'sweet meat' and as a local 'seafood' favorite.