Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See mollusk.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Same as mollusk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A soft-bodied invertebrate of the phylum Mollusca, typically with a hard shell of one or more pieces.
  • noun figuratively A weak-willed person.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun invertebrate having a soft unsegmented body usually enclosed in a shell

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French mollusque, from New Latin Mollusca (phylum name), from Latin molluscus ("thin-shelled"), from mollis ("soft"); see Proto-Indo-European *mel-.

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Examples

  • In each case the mollusc is a loose fit in its burrow, having ample room for rotation, but the aperture of the latter is what is known as a cassinian oval, and generally projects slightly above the surface of the coral.

    My Tropic Isle 2003

  • The embryo of a Vertebrate might at a certain stage of development, be called a mollusc, if for instance, it had the heart of a mollusc.

    Form and Function A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology

  • In each case the mollusc is a loose fit in its burrow, having ample room for rotation, but the aperture of the latter is what is known as a cassinian oval, and generally projects slightly above the surface of the coral.

    My Tropic Isle 1887

  • Having written a piece about the 'mollusc' otherwise known as the Wales Millennium Centre I thought that it was only fair to allow my non-Cardiff based readers to see what their taxpayers money has been spent on.

    Golden Domes 2004

  • In the waters of Florida is a distinct curiosity in the form of an altogether different mollusc which is commonly known as the “bleeding-tooth shell,” the gory stains about the base of the tooth being highly significant.

    Tropic Days 2003

  • In the waters of Florida is a distinct curiosity in the form of an altogether different mollusc which is commonly known as the

    Tropic Days 1887

  • Though they might superficially look like just another kind of mollusc, brachiopods belonged to an entirely different phylum, one that flourished during the past but has been reduced to just a handful of species today.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science Brian Switek none@example.com 2010

  • The New Zealand mud snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) is a lake-dwelling mollusc whose females can be either sexually reproducing (requiring male 'input' for successful embryo production), or asexually reproducing (clonally reproducing without sexual activity).

    Carin Bondar: No Eggs? No Problem! Carin Bondar 2012

  • The New Zealand mud snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) is a lake-dwelling mollusc whose females can be either sexually reproducing (requiring male 'input' for successful embryo production), or asexually reproducing (clonally reproducing without sexual activity).

    Carin Bondar: No Eggs? No Problem! Carin Bondar 2012

  • A factor must surely be that by far the majority of mollusc species are aquatic (I am assuming again) and harder to study.

    Where are all the malacologists? AYDIN 2009

Comments

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  • The scientific celebrities, forgetting their molluscs and glacial periods, gossiped about art, while devoting themselves to oysters and ices with characteristic energy....

    --Louisa May Alcott, 1868, Little Women

    November 9, 2007