Meaning & use
crawfish
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small freshwater shellfish with a hard shell and claws, often eaten as food.
Grammar: Countable: one crawfish, two crawfish (plural often unchanged) or two crawfishes.
Patterns
- a crawfish
- eat crawfish
- catch crawfish
We boiled a big pot of crawfish for dinner.
Crawfish are common in the rivers and ponds around here.
She ordered crawfish étouffée at the restaurant.
verbintransitiveinformalAmerican
To move backward or withdraw from a position, especially in a cowardly way.
Grammar: No object; often used with on: crawfish on a promise.
Patterns
- crawfish on something
- crawfish out of something
He crawfished on his promise to help us.
The company crawfished out of the deal at the last minute.
Word forms
| plural | crawfish |
|---|---|
| plural | crawfishes |
| third person singular | crawfishes |
| past tense | crawfished |
| past participle | crawfished |
| -ing form | crawfishing |
Common combinations
- crawfish boil
- They invited us to a crawfish boil on Saturday.
- crawfish season
- Crawfish season runs from late winter to early summer.
- crawfish pond
- The farm has several crawfish ponds.
- catch crawfish
- The children tried to catch crawfish in the stream.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: crawfish or crayfish? crawfish or fish?
crawfish vs crayfish
Same animal, but crayfish is the standard term in British English and in science; crawfish is common in the US South.
crawfish vs fish
A crawfish is not a true fish; it is a crustacean like a small lobster.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses crawfish correctly.
Choose one answer.
Crawfish live in water such as rivers and ponds, so 'in the river' fits. The other places are not natural habitats for crawfish.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “crawfish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.