limpet

[ lim-pit ]

See synonyms for limpet on Thesaurus.com

noun

any of various marine gastropods with a low conical shell open beneath, often browsing on rocks at the shoreline and adhering when disturbed.

Origin of limpet

before 1050; Middle English lempet,Old English lempedu, nasalized variant of *lepedu<Latin lepada, accusative of lepas<Greek lepás limpet

Words Nearby limpet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use limpet in a sentence

Scientists came to this conclusion after reviewing ancient penguin bones and limpet shells at these sites.
Uplifting Antarctic shores point to accelerating loss of glaciers | Douglas Fox | July 5, 2022 | Science News For Students
Antarctica’s Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are losing ice more quickly than they have at any time in the last few thousand years, ancient penguin bones and limpet shells suggest.
Ancient penguin bones reveal unprecedented shrinkage in key Antarctic glaciers | Douglas Fox | June 9, 2022 | Science News
The sea star realized that it couldn’t outrun the top-shells, so it turned its attention to a nearby stationary urchin, which had covered itself with an empty limpet shell.
8 ‘insignificant’ creatures that will make you dream about the ocean | Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck | December 1, 2021 | Popular-Science
Four of those attacks used the same kind of magnetic limpet bomb, affixed to the vehicles of the targets.
Iran’s Changing Calculus: Will It Strike Inside the United States? | Eli Lake | February 1, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Shell, rather limpet-like, with a hooked apex (whence its generic name), adheres to stones or piles in running water.
Our British Snails | John William Horsley

When the tide is out, the limpet clings to the rock, its soft body tucked safely away in the shell.
On the Seashore | R. Cadwallader Smith
Then the limpet's shell may be seen to tilt up, and a foot, and a head with feelers and eyes, come out.
On the Seashore | R. Cadwallader Smith
In time this resting-place becomes hollowed out, and the limpet's shell fits into the groove thus made.
On the Seashore | R. Cadwallader Smith
You will know, if you have tried to force a limpet from its hold on the rock, how very tightly it clings.
On the Seashore | R. Cadwallader Smith

British Dictionary definitions for limpet

limpet

/ (ˈlɪmpɪt) /

noun

any of numerous marine gastropods, such as Patella vulgata (common limpet) and Fissurella (or Diodora) apertura (keyhole limpet), that have a conical shell and are found clinging to rocks
any of various similar freshwater gastropods, such as Ancylus fluviatilis (river limpet)

(modifier) relating to or denoting certain weapons that are attached to their targets by magnetic or adhesive properties and resist removal: limpet mines
a small open caisson shaped to fit against a dock wall, used mainly in repair work

Origin of limpet

Old English lempedu, from Latin lepas, from Greek

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

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