limpet

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (4)  · 
“
I've got my pockets half full of the proper sort Neal laughed, but he felt that to use Una's hair as a wrap for the red pulp of a crab's back or the soft, black belly of a limpet was a kind of profanation.

View all »
Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Any of numerous marine gastropod mollusks, as of the families Acmaeidae and Patellidae, characteristically having a conical shell and adhering to rocks of tidal areas.
  2. noun One that clings persistently.
  3. noun A type of explosive designed to cling to the hull of a ship and detonate on contact or signal.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • John Major was a limpet, and look how bad things were for him. —  Benedict Brogan's political blog
  • On the success of such limpet-like tactics may Liverpool's fate hang. —  Top stories from Times Online
  • At the other end Suppiah hung on like a limpet, but was not as slow as he appeared, simply because he did not have much of the strike. —  Cricinfo news from Cricinfo
  • The huge bull limpet, enraged by the rock, endeavours to encircle its sprightly opponent. —  Popular Posts Across MetaFilter
  • I've got my pockets half full of the proper sort Neal laughed, but he felt that to use Una's hair as a wrap for the red pulp of a crab's back or the soft, black belly of a limpet was a kind of profanation. —  The Northern Iron
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 63 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Possibly Middle English lempet, European limpet (sense uncertain).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English lempet, a limpet, apparently orig. a lamprey, from Anglo-Saxon lempedu, another form of lamprede, a lamprey: see lamprey. It can hardly be connected with Late Latin lepas (lepad-), from Greek λεπάς (λεπαδ-), a limpet: see Lepas. Cf. limpin.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈlɪmpɛt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a year.

Recently looked up

hurtling · tiller · vervain · storyboard · mulch

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich