Main Entry:: ¹shrimp
Pronunciation:: \ˈshrimp, especially Southern ˈsrimp\
Function:: noun
Inflected Form(s):: plural shrimps or shrimp
Etymology:: Middle English shrimpe; akin to Middle Low German schrempen to contract, wrinkle, Old Norse skorpna to shrivel up
Date:: 14th century

1: any of numerous mostly small and marine decapod crustaceans (suborders Dendrobranchiata and Pleocyemata) having a slender elongated body, a compressed abdomen, and a long spiny rostrum and including some (especially family Penaeidae) that are commercially important as food ; also : a small crustacean (as an amphipod or a branchiopod) resembling the true shrimps2: a very small or puny person or thing

— shrimp·like

\-ˌlīk\ adjective

— shrimpy

\ˈshrim-pē, ˈsrim-\ adjective

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