soft-shell crab

American

noun

a crab, especially the blue crab, that has recently molted and therefore has a soft, edible shell.

soft-shell crab British

noun

a crab, esp of the edible species Cancer pagurus, that has recently moulted and has not yet formed its new shell Compare hard-shell crab

"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

Etymology

Origin of soft-shell crab

First recorded in 1835–45

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:

soft-shell crab

I ordered a stir fry of crab and broken rice with greens and yam that came topped with a fried soft-shell crab drizzled with shito, a Ghanaian chili sauce.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

We loved the fried butter garlic soft-shell crab with fragrant, crispy curry leaves.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2022

Pilots ate cream of crab soup and soft-shell crab sandwiches, fresh as could be.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2021

It’s the reason today’s fried soft-shell crab and pan-roasted rockfish are superior to the already superb versions served there 10 years ago.

From New York Times ● May 25, 2021

“And I don’t believe that even a fried soft-shell crab is dead enough so that it can’t bite a fellow!”

From Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point Nita, the Girl Castaway by Alice B. Emerson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023