softshelladj.n.
/ˈsɒf(t)ʃɛl/, U.S. /ˈsɔf(t)ˌʃɛl/, /ˈsɑf(t)ˌʃɛl/ A. adj. (attributive).
1. Having a soft shell; = soft-shelled adj. 1. Also: of or relating to something that has a soft shell. Chiefly in the names of animals (see softshell clam n., softshell crab n., softshell turtle n. at Compounds). Cf. hardshell adj. 1a.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [adjective] > having a hard protective covering > having a shell > having a soft shell
soft-shelled1611
softshell1670
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > nut > [adjective] > of or relating to a shell > having a shell > of a certain kind
hard-shelled1599
shelled1611
hardshell1670
softshell1670
paper-shelled1753
1670 J. Evelyn Sylva (ed. 2) viii. 44 The Wall-nut, is of several sorts; the soft shell, and the hard, the whiter, and the blacker grain.
1811 J. M. Baker Let. 19 June in T. Jefferson Papers (2007) Retirement Ser. IV. 4 William R Lee..will..Send on One quarter Cask Albaflor Wine—One Bag Soft shell almonds.
1883 G. B. Goode Rev. Fishery Industries U.S. 51 This Crab is eaten in both the hard and soft shell condition.
1929 H. A. A. Nicholls & J. H. Holland Text-bk. Trop. Agric. (ed. 2) ii. xix. 552 The ‘Thin-shell’ or ‘Soft-shell’ palm nut.., so called because the nuts are easily cracked owing to the very thin shell.
1974 W. Foley Child in Forest 149 The cracked or soft-shell eggs were given to the men for breakfast.
2003 Chile Pepper Feb. 59/1 Amberjack..is basted with a blueberry barbecue sauce and garnished with crispy softshell crawfish.
2. U.S. That adopts or advocates a moderate course or policy in politics or religion. Cf. softshell Baptist n., softshell Democrat n. at Compounds. Now chiefly historical.Recorded earliest in softshell Baptist.
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society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > [adjective] > advocating or adopting a moderate course
softshell1844
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > restrained or moderate behaviour > [adjective] > that adopts a moderate course or policy
softshell1844
soft-shelled1849
1844 Home Missionary Mag. Dec. 184/2 The Baptists here are divided into two parties, called Anti-missionary and Missionary, or ‘Hardshell’ and ‘Softshell’ Baptists.
1853 J. E. Cooley Speech before Democracy of Syracuse 46 The men of the south..may..confirm, possibly, in the Senate of the United States, the free-soil and soft-shell appointments of General Pierce.
1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 12 May 1 The type of what the Americans might call the ‘soft-shell’ Radicals.
1956 ABA Jrnl. June 592/2 The soft-shell egg-heads, the left-threaded screwballs, the pseudo-philosophers.
2010 J. Ryan John Sayles, Filmmaker (ed. 2) 105 Danny uses the Old Testament story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife to communicate Joe's innocence to the softshell congregation.
B. n.
1. Chiefly U.S. A soft-shelled turtle. Also: a soft-shelled crab, lobster, etc.
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the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > suborder Cryptodira > member of family Trionychidae (soft-shell)
mud turtle1756
softshell turtle1804
soft tortoise1821
mud terrapin1829
softshell1830
softback1832
Trionyx1835
potamian1851
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > miscellaneous or unspecified types of crab
sea lion1601
blue crab1763
violet crab1774
angular crab1777
red crab1825
softshell1830
turtle-crab1838
porcellanian1840
Thelphusian1842
lady crab1844
oxystome1852
lobster-crab1854
porcelain crab1854
ochidore1855
havil1857
mask crab1857
sepoy crab1857
violet land crab1864
frog crab1876
stool-crab1880
paper-shell1890
porter crab1904
mitten crab1934
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > soft-shelled lobster
softshell1884
1830 R. C. Sands in M. R. Mitford Stories Amer. Life II. 288 The soft-shell of the Red River.
1846 T. B. Thorpe Myst. Backwoods 156 It is Turtle Lake from its abundance of ‘green, amphibious soft-shells’.
1884 R. Rathbun in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 783 ‘Black Lobster,’ ‘Soft-shell,’ ‘Berried Lobster.’
1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. iii. 79 Ah'm gointer prune a gang of soft-shells (turtles).
1941 Louisiana: Guide to State (Federal Writers' Project) 227 ‘Soft-shells’ and ‘busters’ (shedding crabs from which the old shell is pried off) are coated with cracker meal and fried.
2001 Trav. Afr. Winter 120/4 The Nile soft-shell is the biggest freshwater turtle in Africa.
2002 New Cook Bk. (Better Homes & Gardens) (ed. 12) 298/2 Live soft-shell blue crabs are available mid-May through September, but frozen soft-shells can be purchased year-round.
2. U.S.
a. = softshell Baptist n. at Compounds. Now historical.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > American politics > [noun] > Democratic Party > member or adherent of > of branch of
loco-foco1835
loco1838
O.K.1840
hard1843
softshell1845
barn-burner1848
hardshell1852
soft1853
softshell1853
Bourbon1859
short-hairs1867
New Dem1962
Blue Dog1995
1845 Knickerbocker 26 285 A ‘Hard-Shell’ recently turned a ‘Soft-Shell’ out of church.
1930 Amer. Speech 5 412 The Soft-shells were more liberal as regards worldly practices.
2015 L. Alther in L. Alther & F. Gilot About Women viii. 228 The Soft Shells believed anyone had the potential to be saved.
b. Politics. A member of the less conservative of the two factions into which the Democratic Party in New York state was divided in 1852 and subsequent years; (later sometimes more generally) a moderate or progressive Democrat. Cf. soft n. 6b. Now historical.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > American politics > [noun] > Democratic Party > member or adherent of > of branch of
loco-foco1835
loco1838
O.K.1840
hard1843
softshell1845
barn-burner1848
hardshell1852
soft1853
softshell1853
Bourbon1859
short-hairs1867
New Dem1962
Blue Dog1995
1853 Yankee Notions Mar. 81/1 All the Democrats, North and South, who have visited him, Secessionists and Abolitionists,..Hard Shells and Soft Shells, Old Fogies and Young Americans.
1866 Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 201/1 The ‘Soft Shells’ were ‘Free-soil’ Democrats.
1927 D. T. Lynch ‘Boss’ Tweed xiii. 153 He pleaded almost daily the need of uniting the Hardshells and the Softshells.
1997 J. A. Goldman Building New York's Sewers 124 By the early 1850s both New York State's and City's Democratic Party had split into two factions, the Hard-Shells and the Soft-Shells.
Compounds
softshell Baptist n. U.S. (now historical) a Baptist holding relatively liberal views.Opposed to hardshell Baptist n. at hardshell adj. and n. Compounds.
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1844 Home Missionary Mag. Dec. 184/2 The Baptists here are divided into two parties, called Anti-missionary and Missionary, or ‘Hardshell’ and ‘Softshell’ Baptists.
1872 M. S. De Vere Americanisms 241 Such are the Soft Shell Baptists, so called on account of their less stern manners and less rigid principles.
1915 L. A. Harding Hist. Decatur County, Indiana viii. 213 Missionary work, and even Sunday schools, have been opposed in Baptist churches in the past, and thus have arisen ‘Hardshell’ and ‘Softshell’ Baptists.
1996 P. Conn Pearl S. Buck i. 2 They represented all the major Protestant denominations: Congregationalists, Methodists, hardshell and softshell Baptists, [etc.].
softshell clam n. U.S. a large, edible bivalve mollusc, Myia arenaria (family Myidae), found in tidal mudflats in the north Atlantic and east Pacific.Also called sand gaper, soft clam, steamer, longneck.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Siphonida > sinu-pallialia > family Myacidae
fleming1603
clam1672
clamp1672
basket-shell1713
Mya1777
soft clam1800
smurlin1806
sand-clam1809
long clam1811
old maid1815
softshell clam1818
maninose1843
gaper1853
long neck1857
geoduck1881
bluenose1883
sand-gaper1887
mano1899
1818 Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 2 296 Soft shell Clam. These animals..are excellent eating.
1920 A. F. Pattee Pract. Dietetics (ed. 13) 168 There are two varieties, the hard and soft shell clams.
1968 J. Hay Sandy Shore v. 22 Anyone raking for soft-shell clams might associate the flats with little else.
2011 Harper's Bazaar (U.K. ed.) July 36/2 We'd go to crab shacks together and take away steamed soft-shell clams.
softshell crab n. U.S. a crab that has shed its shell and is awaiting the hardening of the new one, enabling most of the animal to be eaten; also called soft crab.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > crabs at particular stage
soft crab1737
softshell crab1806
megalopa1815
buster1855
megalops1855
shedder-crab1860
peeler1866
shedder1872
prawn-stage1896
fat crab1905
1806 Monthly Mag. Feb. 28/2 The soft shell crab is the greatest delicacy.
1887 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Sept. 456 Baltimore,..the home of the soft-shell crab, the diamond-back terrapin.
1977 E. Leonard Unknown Man No. 89 xx. 202 Softshell crabs, very good fish, steak.
2011 New Yorker 15 Aug. 44/2 One has to eat the chitinous exoskeleton, but the same is true for soft-shell crab.
softshell Democrat n. U.S. Politics (now historical) a member of the less conservative of the two factions into which the Democratic Party in New York state was divided in 1852 and subsequent years; cf. sense B. 2b.
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1854 Boston Post 27 Jan. The distinction between a hard shell and a soft shell democrat.
1909 W. A. Goulder Reminiscences xii. 101 The Democratic party in Missouri was at that time divided into two factions; the ‘hard’ and the ‘soft-shell Democrats’.
2008 P. C. Cohen et al. Flash Press 261 Walsh was identified as a ‘soft-shell’ Democrat and noted for his radical, democratic, and pro-Southern sympathies.
softshell turtle n. any of various freshwater turtles that constitute the family Trionychidae, esp. North American turtles of the genus Apalone (or Trionyx), which are characterized by a flexible leathery carapace.
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the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > suborder Cryptodira > member of family Trionychidae (soft-shell)
mud turtle1756
softshell turtle1804
soft tortoise1821
mud terrapin1829
softshell1830
softback1832
Trionyx1835
potamian1851
1804 J. Pinkerton Mod. Geogr. (new ed.) II. 451 (note) The soft-shell turtle..is peculiar to America.
1884 F. W. True in G.B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 152 The food of the Soft-shell Turtles consists of small fishes, snails, and other small animals.
1943 Z. N. Hurston Let. 15 May in Life in Lett. (2002) 488 I go for hush-puppies too and soft-shell turtle.
2002 G. M. Eberhart Mysterious Creatures II. 372/2 The African softshell turtle (Trionyx triunguis ) reaches a length of 3 feet.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1670