shrimp
Americannoun
-
shrimps,
plural
-
shrimp
plural
-
any of several small, long-tailed, chiefly marine crustaceans of the decapod suborder Natania, certain species of which are used as food.
-
Informal. a diminutive or insignificant person.
verb (used without object)
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shrimps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shrimped,
past participle, past
-
shrimping
present participle
adjective
-
(of food) made with or containing shrimp.
shrimp salad.
-
of or relating to shrimp or their catching, processing, and marketing.
a shrimp boat.
noun
-
any of various chiefly marine decapod crustaceans of the genus Crangon and related genera, having a slender flattened body with a long tail and a single pair of pincers
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any of various similar but unrelated crustaceans, such as the opossum shrimp and mantis shrimp
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Also called: freshwater shrimp. any of various freshwater shrimplike amphipod crustaceans of the genus Gammarus, esp G. pulex
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Also called: sand shrimp. any of various shrimplike amphipod crustaceans of the genus Gammarus, esp G. locusta See also opossum shrimp
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informal a diminutive person, esp a child
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shrimpsimple
-
shrimpssimple
-
have shrimpedperfect
-
has shrimpedperfect
-
am shrimpingprogressive
-
are shrimpingprogressive
-
is shrimpingprogressive
-
have been shrimpingperfect progressive
-
has been shrimpingperfect progressive
Past
-
shrimpedsimple
-
had shrimpedperfect
-
was shrimpingprogressive
-
were shrimpingprogressive
-
had been shrimpingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shrimp
1300–50; Middle English shrimpe crustacean, puny person; akin to Middle High German schrimpfen to contract, Old English scrimman to shrink
Explanation
A shrimp is a small crustacean that lives on the ocean floor. You may be most familiar with the shrimp you order at a seafood restaurant, but there are over 2,000 species of shrimp in the world. While many people think of shrimp as a delicious part of a pasta dish or seafood buffet, there's much more to these tiny animals. Shrimp are invertebrates, with hard exoskeletons, antennae, and eyes on long stalks. They live at the bottom of the ocean, where they filter sand and particles for algae and plankton. Shrimp probably comes from the Old Norse skreppa, "thin person," and fittingly, shrimp is also a mildly derogatory term for a small person.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Golden Corral scrutinizes buffet waste, marries costly shrimp with cheaper hush puppies and mines data to make money off bottomless offerings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Tatiana, the Afro-Caribbean restaurant at New York’s Lincoln Center, is one of the toughest reservations in the city, thanks in part to dishes like tender Wagyu short rib and head-on shrimp drenched in Creole butter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Sher voted against 1986 legislation that purported to open the way for a shrimp processing facility in West Sacramento.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Rearing the snails - as well as other critically endangered invertebrates such as scarlet malachite beetles, ladybird spiders and tadpole shrimp - has become a family affair.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
“I can punch hard as a man, at least that what my dead husband used to tell the other boys that work the shrimp boat with him.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
For its owner, Greenlandic company Polar Seafoods, which sells shrimps, crab and halibut, shorter and direct flights mean new business possibilities.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2024
They feed on small reef fishes, shrimps, octopuses, crabs, sea urchins and lobsters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2024
Trillions of fish, shrimps, amphipods, jellyfish, and squid rise to feed, using the cover of darkness to hide from predators.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 13, 2024
"It is conceivable that if we did the experiment on shrimps that had been exposed for a longer period or during critical stages in their life history, it would affect their sperm levels and quality."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 2023
Before that I headed shrimps when Moultrie Small’s boat comes in.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
As a youngster, Jenkins shrimped with his father.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 22, 2021
“There’s no good price for shrimp, and sometimes there’s no catch,” said Robert Griffin, a retired Golden Meadow oil worker who shrimped in his youth.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 24, 2018
When ur was a little chile ur shrimped with 'n! an' when ur was a gert maiden ur walked out with 'n!
From The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 by A. R. (Augustus Robert) Buckland
It is true, such things as these go for Wit so long as they continue in Latin; but what dismally shrimped things would they appear, if turned into English!
From An English Garner Critical Essays & Literary Fragments by Professor Thomas Seccombe Arber
Ms. Langlinais, who also owns a marketing business, grew up in a shrimping family in Biloxi, Miss., immersed in the elaborate world of Mardi Gras.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Dan Ellison started shrimping when he was 12, bringing a change of clothes on the boat so he could make it to school after early-morning outings.
From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2023
Working on a tugboat didn't bother Alton the way it bothered many other Pointe-aux-Chenes residents who had been forced to give up shrimping and fishing.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2023
Dale Kalliainen and his brother followed their father into the shrimping business and owns the trawler Night Wind, which landed amid a mobile home park near a bridge.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 10, 2022
“Reggie died in Georgia. According to Coach Douglas, he’d found work on a shrimping boat. There was an accident out in the water. He went overboard.”
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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