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sea slug

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noun
  1. a nudibranch.

Origin of sea slug

First recorded in 1770–80
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sea slug

Historical Examples

  • The bche-de-mer is a curious kind of sea-slug, rather like a sea cucumber.

    The Last Voyage

    Lady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey

  • Even the unsightly sea-cucumber, or sea-slug, is not to be outdone.

  • The trepang is a sort of sea-slug, which is dried and used by the Chinese to make soup.

    Mark Seaworth

    William H.G. Kingston

  • I understand the sea-slug, which the Indians call balate, is thus captured.

  • Trepang (sea-slug, Holothuria) and shark-fins are sent to the Chinese markets; also mother-of-pearl, wax and gold dust.

British Dictionary definitions for sea slug

sea slug

noun
  1. any of various shell-less marine gastropod molluscs, esp those of the order NudibranchiaSee nudibranch
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
sea slug in Science

sea slug

  1. Any of various colorful marine gastropods of the suborder Nudibranchia, lacking a shell and gills but having fringelike projections that serve as respiratory organs. Also called nudibranch
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.