crawfish

[ kraw-fish ]
See synonyms for crawfish on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural (especially collectively) craw·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) craw·fish·es.
verb (used without object),craw·fished, craw·fish·ing.
  1. Informal. to back out or retreat from a position or undertaking.

Origin of crawfish

1
1615–25; earlier crafish, cravish, cravis, variant outcomes of Middle French crevicecrayfish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use crawfish in a sentence

  • This morning Buddy crawfished backward away from the brink of the overhanging rock.

    The Red Debt | Everett MacDonald
  • He crawfished cautiously toward this lone vehicle, dragging his rifle after him through the dust of the road.

    The Red Debt | Everett MacDonald
  • After he had crawfished back to the table where the others were, none else offered to stir.

    Old Judge Priest | Irvin S. Cobb
  • He crawfished along the face of the slope, until he could see beyond it.

    The Portygee | Joseph Crosby Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for crawfish

crawfish

/ (ˈkrɔːˌfɪʃ) /


nounplural -fish or -fishes
  1. a variant (esp US) of crayfish (def. 2)

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