Link Centre Dictionary

lobster

lobs·ter

UK/ˈlɒb.stə/ US/ˈlɔb.stə/ fairly common slang

noun

1.

flesh of a lobster

2.

any of several edible marine crustaceans of the families Homaridae and Nephropsidae and Palinuridae

Origin

From Middle English loppestere, lopster, from Old English loppestre, lopustre, lopystre, of uncertain origin. Some believe it to be a corruption of Latin lō̆custa (“grasshopper, locust”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre. In Latin, the phrase lō̆custa marīna (literally "sea-grasshopper") signified a type of crustacean (shrimp or lobster). Alternatively, from Old English lobbe, loppe (“spider”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre, equivalent to lop + -ster.

Phrases

  • American lobster
  • Andaman lobster
  • Arafura lobster
  • Bermuda lobster
  • bight lobster
  • blue lobster
  • California lobster
  • Cape lobster

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.