littleneck clam
- noun
- /ˈlɪtəˌnɛk klæm/
- US
:
almeja littleneck
- We enjoyed a delicious dish of littleneck clams cooked with garlic and butter.
- a dozen littleneck clams
Examples
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To make a flavorful broth, add chopped vegetables and littleneck clams to simmer in water.
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Steamed littleneck clams can be easily gathered and prepared in minutes.
Blog text (6) -
The South Sound and Hood Canal are good options for digging littleneck clams and picking oysters, while razor clam digs on the sandy ocean beaches.
Blog text (6) -
At the seafood restaurant, I ordered a platter of fresh littleneck clams served raw on ice.
Synonyms
24
1.0
The edible meat from a shellfish that people cook and eat
1
9.9
A large round clam with a hard shell that people eat on the east coast of North America
1
8.3
A small clam with a hard shell that people often eat raw or steamed
A large edible clam with a hard shell that was used as money by some Native American tribes
How Big
- US
- US
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'littleneck' denotes a small/young variety and 'clam' names the bivalve, so 'littleneck clam' straightforwardly means a small clam. This size + noun compounding is a common, predictable pattern in English and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Littleneck clam probably comes from Little Neck, a bay where people gathered these small shellfish, so the place name littleneck stuck to the animals called clams. That's why littleneck clam means 'a small, young clam eaten as food'.