shrimp
pronunciation
How to pronounce shrimp in British English:
UK [ʃrɪmp]
How to pronounce shrimp in American English:
US [ʃrɪmp]
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- Noun:
- disparaging terms for small people
- any of various edible decapod crustaceans
- small slender-bodied chiefly marine decapod crustaceans with a long tail and single pair of pincers; many species are edible
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- Verb:
- fish for shrimp
Word Origin
- shrimp
- shrimp: [14] The shrimp’s name appears to echo its small size. It was probably borrowed from some Low German source, and its possible relatives include Middle Low German schrempen ‘shrink, wrinkle’ and modern German schrumpfen ‘shrivel, shrink’. Its use for a ‘tiny person’ is virtually as old in English as its application to the crustacean, and probably goes right back to its original source.
- shrimp (n.)
- early 14c., "slender, edible marine crustacean," probably from Old Norse skreppa "thin person," from Proto-Germanic *skrimp- (see scrimp). Related to Old English scrimman "to shrink;" the connecting notion is probably "thinness" (compare Danish dialectal skrimpe "thin cattle"). The meaning "puny person" in English is attested from late 14c.; an especially puny one might be a shrimplet (1680s).
- shrimp (v.)
- "fish for shrimp," 1801 (implied in shrimping ), from shrimp (n.). Related: Shrimper (1808).
Example
- 1. Tadpole shrimp have outlived dinosaurs , trilobites and mammoths .
- 2. It has a nutty flavor similar to shrimp , but some people find its texture plain disgusting .
- 3. Toffler chooses a cobb salad with grilled shrimp and sparkling water .
- 4. Cook shrimp , lobster and scallops until they 're milky white .
- 5. Tadpole shrimp live in seasonal , freshwater ponds .