shrimpn.
/ʃrɪmp/, U.S. /ʃrɪmp/ 1. collective singular.1869 A. J. Evans Vashti viii. 111 That boy..whose sublimest idea of heaven consists in the hope that its blessed sea of glass is brimming with golden shrimp.† b. Applied to a scaly monster. Obsolete.
a. Any of the slender, long-tailed, long-legged (chiefly marine) crustaceans of the genus Crangon and allied genera, closely related to the prawns; esp. C. vulgaris, the common shrimp, which inhabits the sand on the coasts of Great Britain and is a common article of food.Also, in a wider sense, applied to various similar crustaceans, as the families Mysidæ and Gammaridæ; see brine-shrimp n. at brine n. Compounds 2, fairy shrimp n. at fairy n. and adj. Compounds 4, opossum shrimp n., etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > shrimp or prawn
shrimp1327
prawn1336
prawn fish1552
crevette1878
camaron1880
gamba1950
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > tribe Caridea (shrimps and prawns)
shrimp1327
prawn1336
Caridea1852
carid1907
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > member of family Crangonidae of Caridea
shrimp1327
bunting1836
1327 Wardrobe Acc. 20 Edw. II 31/18 Shrimpis, 3d.
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 42 Take þe Luce, an þe Perche, & þe Schrympe, & seþe hem.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 449/1 Schrymp, fysche, stingus.
c1450 Brut 447 Grete Scrymppys.
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 161 Shrympes welle pyked þe scales awey ye cast.
1553 P. Belon De Aquatilibus 273 Anglorum..pisces ex Tamesi & aliis Britanniæ fluminibus..Roches, Daces, Tenche, Ruff, Schriemp, Prans.
1622 M. Drayton 2nd Pt. Poly-olbion xxv. 109 The Periwincle, Prawne, the Cockle, and the Shrimpe, For wanton womens tasts, or for weake stomacks bought.
1674 T. Flatman Belly God 97 An ore-charg'd Stomack roasted shrimps will ease.
1770 P. Pittman Present State European Settlem. Missisippi 5 Shrimps are found in the Mississippi as far as Natches.
1813 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. (ed. 4) III. 389 The Shrimp is much smaller than the Prawn, and is by no means so much esteemed as food.
1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) vi. 49 She partook of shrimps and porter.
1890 Hardwicke's Sci.-gossip 26 280/1 The phantom shrimp (Caprella linearis) of S. Australia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > malignant monster > [noun] > types of
warlockOE
Catathlebac1300
lamiaa1382
shrimp?a1400
thing1888
snallygaster1940
?a1400 Morte Arth. 767 His scoulders ware schalyde alle in clene syluere, Schreede ouer alle the schrympe with schrinkande poyntez.
c. A shrimp or prawn used as a bait in angling.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > bait > fish used as bait
minnow1615
shrimp1856
squida1862
sliver1869
fion1875
snade1901
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > miscellaneous or unspecified types of shrimp
beard1611
shrimplet1688
garnel1694
water shrimp1745
pandle1746
brine-shrimp1836
brine-worm1836
squilloid1852
well shrimp1853
glass-crab1855
shrimp1856
snapping shrimp1941
1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports 236/2 Shrimps are used for angling in docks and canals, and are good baits for perch, if used alive.
1910 Encycl. Brit. II. 29/1 Odd attractions such as boiled shrimps, caddis-grubs, small frogs, maggots, wasp-grubs, &c. are sometimes successful.
1924 Blackwood's Mag. Apr. 489/1 I would not trust the most experienced salmon with Michael Lydon and a Galway ‘shrimp’.
1931 Hardy's Anglers' Guide 31 The shrimp will wake the lazy dozer, and he'll take it or your fly with a rush.
1931 Hardy's Anglers' Guide 180 Prawn and Shrimp Tackles.
1962 L. L. Bean Catal. 52 Bean's shrimp fly is an excellent imitation of the natural food for trout.
d. A colour resembling that of a cooked shrimp, a bright shade of pink.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > [noun] > shades of red > pale red or pink > bright pink
strawberry pink1675
crevette1884
shrimp1895
flamingo1897
cyclamen1923
shocking pink1938
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 12/1 Colored Surah silks..in the following colors: green..shrimp, wine.
1922 Daily Mail 20 Dec. 1 Lingerie Crepe... Pink, Sky, Jade, Flesh, Shrimp, Saxe.
1927 T. Woodhouse Artificial Silk: Manuf. & Uses 81 The particulars of the colours and patterns are as under—No. 1. A shrimp ordinary crochet pattern.
1975 New Yorker 26 May 81 (advt.) This plain white steerhide belt reverses to cool summer shades including seafoam green, shrimp, bone.
2. figurative.1634 Noble Souldier iii. ii The small ones [sc. poets] are but shrimpes of Poesie.
a. A diminutive or puny person (rarely thing). Chiefly contemptuous.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily height > shortness > [noun] > person
dwarfeOE
congeonc1230
go-by-ground?a1300
smalla1300
shrimpc1386
griga1400
gruba1400
murche1440
nirvil1440
mitinga1450
witherling1528
wretchocka1529
elf1530
hop-o'-my-thumb1530
pygmy1533
little person1538
manikin1540
mankin1552
dandiprat1556
yrle1568
grundy1570
Jack Sprat1570
squall1570
manling1573
Tom Thumb1579
pinka1585
squib1586
screaling1594
giant-dwarf1598
twattle1598
agate1600
minimus1600
cock sparrow1602
dapperling1611
modicum1611
scrub1611
sesquipedalian1615
dwarflinga1618
wretchcock1641
homuncio1643
whip-handle1653
homuncule1656
whippersnapper1674
chitterling1675
sprite1684
carliea1689
urling1691
wirling1691
dwarf man1699
poppet1699
durgan1706
short-arse1706
tomtit1706
Lilliputian1726
wallydraigle1736
midge1757
minikin1761
squeeze-crab1785
minimum1796
niff-naff1808
titman1818
teetotum1822
squita1825
cradden1825
nyaff1825
weed1825
pinkeen1850
fingerling1864
Lilliput1867
thumbling1867
midget1869
inch1884
shorty1888
titch1888
skimpling1890
stub1890
scrap1898
pygmoid1922
lofty1933
peewee1935
smidgen1952
pint-size1954
pint-sized1973
munchkin1974
c1386 G. Chaucer Monk's Prol. 67 We borel men been shrympes.
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 384 b He would have been a notorious Goliath over these little moathes, and simple shrimpes.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis iii. 61 On a suddeyn we behold a windbeaten hard shrimp, With lanck wan visadge.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 584 When he [sc. Hercules] was a babe, a childe, a shrimpe, Thus did he strangle Serpents. View more context for this quotation
?1602 Narcissus (MS Bodl. Rawl. poet. 212) (1893) 167 Thou art my mother, I thy sonne, thy shrimpe.
1615 Exchange Ware Second Hand (ed. 2) C 1 b Alas poore shrimpe, thou art nothing in my hands.
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. 142 I wondered how such a shrimp as you could dragg about such a great carcass as mine.
1842 R. H. Barham Aunt Fanny in Ingoldsby Legends 2nd Ser. 142 And all for a ‘Shrimp’ not as high as my hat—A little contemptible ‘Shaver’ like that!!
1863 N. Hawthorne Our Old Home II. 35 Poor little shrimp that he was! [sc. Pope].
1905 E. Glyn Vicissitudes Evangeline 85 He did look such a teeny shrimp climbing after me!
b. a shrimp of a —: a diminutive, a very minute or tiny —.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > a small thing > thing small of its kind
decimo-sexto1594
diminutive1609
toy1665
a shrimp of aa1774
bantam1787
pygmy1838
yarkera1842
baby1847
smidgen1952
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iv. 198 By continual ruminating upon this little shrimp of a possibility.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple II. v. 79 If it bears me, it will not condescend to bend at your shrimp of a carcass.
1884 ‘H. Collingwood’ Under Meteor Flag 258 A little shrimp of a fellow named Fisher.
Compounds
C1. attributive and in other combinations.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Escruoëlle, a little Shrimp-resembling worme.
1736 N. Bailey Dict. Domesticum A Shrimp Pye.
1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery v. 61 To make Shrimp Sauce.
1758 T. Warton Idler 2 Dec. 273 The shrimp-sauce not so good as..I used to eat in London.
1782 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 3) IV. iv. 192 The Shrimp-girl, a head, by Bartolozzi.
1791 G. Huddesford Salmagundi 111 Shrimpscalders and bugkillers, taylors and tylers.
1828 H. Davy Salmonia 62 Small shrimp-like aurelia.
1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. xiii. 113 A butter-boat of shrimp sauce.
1859 A. J. Munby Diary 18 July in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 39 She stood there leaning on her shrimp net (for she had been fishing).
1877 E. W. H. Holdsworth Sea Fisheries 130 The shrimp net used here for catching the brown or true shrimp, is peculiar to the Thames and its immediate neighbourhood, and is practically a beam-trawl.
1882 Cassell's Family Mag. 236/1 Shrimp-pink with white is one of the happiest and latest combinations.
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 14 Model Shrimping Boat, showing how four shrimp nets are worked.
1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 20 Sept. 11/2 She was dressed in a shrimp pink.
1888 G. B. Goode Amer. Fishes 192 They are sometimes taken by hook and line, with shrimp-bait.
1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee ii. 34 An airy slim boy in shrimp-colored tights.
1902 Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 3/2 The pots were first made for the shrimpers of Pegwell Bay—to contain the shrimp-paste prepared there.
1918 H. G. Wells Joan & Peter ix. 291 Perhaps a sandwich, Gentleman's Relish or shrimp paste.
1923 D. H. Lawrence Kangaroo vii. 137 The different shells, their sea-colours of pink and brown and rainbow and..shrimp-red.
1931 Daily Tel. 22 May 9/5 Her pale shrimp-pink chiffon dress was adorned with vertical frills and sunray pleats on the skirt.
1932 A. Huxley Brave New World iii. 38 Two shrimp-brown children emerged from a neighbouring shrubbery.
1973 J. Rossiter Manipulators viii. 90 A shrimp-pink shirt.
1976 Western Living (Vancouver, Brit. Columbia) June 50/2 A fishing village, processing salt fish, making shrimp paste, and doing a bit of duck-farming.
C2.
shrimp-boat n. a boat engaged in fishing for shrimps.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > fishing vessel > [noun] > vessels fishing for shellfish or crustaceans
oyster boat1419
whelk-boat1419
dredger1600
lobster-boat1777
oyster scow1824
oysterer1828
shrimper1851
pungy1852
shrimp-boat1872
Morecambe Bay shrimper1874
crabber1883
skillinger1933
Morecambe Bay prawner1935
1872 B. Jerrold London p. viii Smacks, barges shrimp-boats.
1979 Guardian 22 Oct. 26/7 The size of mesh permitted on shrimp boats in British waters.
shrimp cocktail n. [cocktail n. 4b] a dish of boiled shrimps served cold in a sauce.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > fish dishes > [noun] > shell-fish or crustacean dishes
musculadea1475
oyster loaf1747
clambake1835
lobster Newburg1914
tempura1920
moules marinière1928
scampi1930
lobster thermidor1933
shrimp cocktail1937
étouffée1958
chao tom1969
vongole1977
stuffie1980
1937 America's Cook Bk. 180 Lobster or shrimp cocktail... Chill thoroughly and serve in cocktail glasses.
1977 J. Wainwright Nest of Rats i. vi. 38 It was a nice meal. Shrimp cocktails, followed by a good mixed grill.
shrimp cracker n. a light, crisp cracker flavoured with shrimp and served as an accompaniment to East or South-East Asian food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > biscuit > [noun] > crackers
watera1450
cracker1739
water biscuit1789
water cracker1803
cream cracker1906
Triscuit1906
saltine1907
shrimp cracker1969
1969 Listener 12 June 814/1 The village chief himself asked us to a dinner of dried deer and shrimp crackers, chicken and lettuce.
1975 J. van de Wetering Outsider in Amsterdam (1976) vi. 79 He..broke a piece of shrimp-crackers and grabbed the noodles.
shrimp-fixer n. (see quot. 1850).
ΚΠ
1850 A. White List Specim. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 82 Bopyrus squillarum. Shrimp-fixer.
shrimp gumbo n. U.S. a shrimp soup thickened with okra pods.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > soup or pottage > [noun] > fish-soup
coulis1603
fish-broth1660
bisque1715
fish-soup1723
anchovy-cullis1725
shrimp gumbo1805
fish-chowder1838
lobster bisque1895
ukha1911
shark's fin soup1933
zuppa di pesce1961
fish-broo-
1805 J. F. Watson in Amer. Pioneer (1843) 2 233 Shrimps are much eaten here; also a dish called gumbo. This last is made of every eatable substance, and especially of those shrimps which can be caught at any time.
1885 L. Hearn La Couisine Creole 21 (heading) Maigre shrimp gombo for Lent.
1889 J. Whitehead Steward's Handbk. iv. 337/2 Shrimp-gumbo..not boiled after gumbo is in.
1938 C. H. Matschat Suwannee River 255 The supper was fresh shrimp gumbo, hot and highly spiced.
shrimp-hearted adj. pusillanimous.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adjective]
arghc885
heartlessOE
bloodlessc1225
coward1297
faintc1300
nesha1382
comfortless1387
pusillanimousa1425
faint-heartedc1440
unheartyc1440
cowardous1480
hen-hearteda1529
cowardish1530
feigningc1540
white-livered1546
cowardly1551
faceless1567
pusillanime1570
liver-hearted1571
cowish1579
cowardise1582
coward-like1587
faint-heart1590
courageless1593
sheep-like1596
white-hearted1598
milky1602
milk-livered1608
undaring1611
lily-livereda1616
yarrow1616
flightful1626
chicken-hearted1629
poltroon1649
cow-hearted1660
whey-blooded1675
unbravea1681
nimble-heeled1719
dunghill1775
shrimp-hearted1796
chicken-livered1804
white-feathered1816
pluckless1821
chicken-spirited1822
milk-blooded1822
cowardy1836
yellow1856
yellow-livered1857
putty-hearted1872
uncourageous1878
chicken1883
piker1901
yellow-bellied1907
manso1932
scaredy-cat1933
chickenshit1940
cold-footed1944
1796 M. Robinson Angelina II. 187 You shrimp-hearted lubber.
shrimp-louse n. (see quot. 1850).
ΚΠ
1850 A. White List Specim. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 81 Ione thoracicus. Mud shrimp-louse.
shrimp plant n. an evergreen shrub, Justicia brandegeana (formerly Beloperone guttata), belonging to the family Acanthaceæ, native to Mexico, and bearing small white flowers hidden in clusters of pinkish-brown bracts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > non-British shrubs > [noun] > American or West Indian
ramgoat bush1566
burton-wood1697
cowage cherry1725
Jack-in-the-busha1726
screw tree1739
lady of the night1752
goatweed1756
solandra1797
silk-tassel1833
garrya1835
matico1839
choisya1840
Romneya1845
jointer1847
creosote-bush1851
creosote-plant1854
bridal wreath1856
ocotillo1856
adelaster1863
sage rose1864
white horse1864
tree poppy1866
Tacsonia1869
rain tree1877
piquillin bush1884
tassel-bush1891
bush poppy1899
Mexican orange1923
shrimp plant1941
1941 L. H. Bailey & E. Z. Bailey Hortus Second 101 [Beloperone]guttàta. Shrimp-plant.
1946 M. Free All about House Plants xvii. 153 The Shrimp Plant..is a comparatively new introduction to the house-plant scene.
1956 X. Field House Plants iii. 74 The Shrimp Plant has always been a favourite of mine. I delight in its prawn-like flowers.
1975 J. van de Wetering Tumbleweed (1976) ii. 18 There were plants on all window-sills..the shrimp plant with a pink growth at the end of each stalk.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
shrimpv.
/ʃrɪmp/, U.S. /ʃrɪmp/ 1. intransitive. To fish for shrimps.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing for type of fish > fish for type of fish [verb (intransitive)] > for prawns or shrimps
shrimp1844
prawn1886
yabby1941
1844 M. Hole Diary 26 Aug. in B. Massingham Turn on Fountains (1974) ii. 39 Making the most of our last day at old Blackpool... Loafed. Shrimped.
1926 R. Macaulay Crewe Train ii. v. 119 Torquay wasn't bad. One could shrimp and prawn and fish.
1938 Mississippi (U.S. Works Progress Admin.) 169 In many instances, however, boats are oystering at one season and shrimping at another.
2. transitive. To fish (a pool, etc.) with shrimp as a bait.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > type or method of fishing > [verb (transitive)] > bait a hook > fish pool, etc., with specific bait
spin1886
shrimp1931
1931 Hardy's Anglers' Guide 31 And remember too that you may shrimp a pool in this manner and revert to fly without any fear of your pool being disturbed.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1327
v.1844