Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various predominantly aquatic arthropods of the subphylum (or class) Crustacea, including lobsters, crabs, shrimps, and barnacles, characteristically having a segmented body, a chitinous exoskeleton, paired jointed limbs, and two pairs of antennae.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to the Crustacea.
  • noun One of the Crustacea.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Crustacea; crustaceous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any arthropod of the subphylum Crustacea, including lobsters, crabs, shrimp, barnacles and woodlice.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any mainly aquatic arthropod usually having a segmented body and chitinous exoskeleton
  • adjective of or belonging to the class Crustacea

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Crūstācea, class name, neuter pl. of crūstāceus, hard-shelled, from Latin crusta, shell; see kreus- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Okay, it's sorta cute to have "Lobsters" and "Crabs" on the door at Joe's Crab Shack, but which crustacean is more masculine?

    One Last Web Comic Thought 2006

  • Cymothoa exigua, a crustacean, is the only known parasite that effectively replaces a body organ.

    Boing Boing: September 18, 2005 - September 24, 2005 Archives 2005

  • The independence of a living thing like a human being or a crustacean is a product of the imagination.

    The Doctrine of Evolution Its Basis and Its Scope Henry Edward Crampton

  • Webster and Steve Morris from the University of Bristol in England looked at the so-called crustacean hyperglycemic hormone (CHH), which, among other things, controls the conversion of stored energy in the muscles (called glycogen) into usable fuel (called glucose).

    Livescience.com 2010

  • Brown points out that pill bugs, or whatever other names they are known by, are not actually insects, but rather a type of crustacean, which is why they require a moist habitat.

    Statesman - AP Sports 2009

  • Brown points out that pill bugs, or whatever other names they are known by, are not actually insects, but rather a type of crustacean, which is why they require a moist habitat.

    Statesman - AP Sports 2009

  • Brown points out that pill bugs, or whatever other names they are known by, are not actually insects, but rather a type of crustacean, which is why they require a moist habitat.

    Statesman - AP Sports 2009

  • Brown points out that pill bugs, or whatever other names they are known by, are not actually insects, but rather a type of crustacean, which is why they require a moist habitat.

    Statesman - AP Sports 2009

  • These are clearly still just a kind of crustacean!

    If You Seal It Off, They Will Evolve - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • These are clearly still just a kind of crustacean!

    If You Seal It Off, They Will Evolve - The Panda's Thumb 2006

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