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Glite Dictionary
hard-shell crab

hard-shell crab

1 3.2
A crab that has a hard outer covering because it has not recently shed its skin
  • noun
  • /hɑrd-ʃɛl kræb/
translation icon : cangrejo de concha dura
  • She ordered a plate of hard-shell crabs to share with her friends during dinner.

Examples

  • - Do you sell hard-shell crabs?

    As Good as It Gets (1997)

  • Today only, free hard-shell crabs for all our guests.

    Silent Fall (1994)

  • Two hard-shell crab dinners.

    As Good as It Gets (1997)

  • We enjoyed a delicious meal of hard-shell crab with garlic butter at the restaurant.

  • The market had a selection of fresh hard-shell crabs available for purchase.

How Hard-Shelled

hard-shell crab
1 3.2

Surface Forms

hard-shell crab singular
hard-shell crabs plural

Morphology

hard-shell + crab

The compound 'hard-shell crab' is literally built from 'hard' + 'shell' + 'crab' and denotes a crab that has a hard shell (i.e., has not recently molted). This is a transparent, compositional noun phrase following standard modifier+noun patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Hard-shell crab: The name hard-shell crab comes from a simple picture: the crab's shell is very hard because it has not recently 'shed' its old shell. That's why cooks must crack the shell to get the meat, and why the name means a crab you have to break open rather than a soft-shell crab.