lobster

English

Lobster (1)

Etymology

From Middle English loppestere, lopster, from Old English loppestre, lopustre, lopystre, of uncertain origin. Some believe it to be a corruption of Latin lō̆custa (“grasshopper, locust”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre. In Latin, the phrase lō̆custa marīna (literally "sea-grasshopper") signified a type of crustacean (shrimp or lobster).

Alternatively, from Old English lobbe, loppe (“spider”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre, equivalent to lop +‎ -ster.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒb.stə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑb.stɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒbstə(ɹ)

Adjective

lobster (comparative more lobster, superlative most lobster)

1. Red-colored, especially from a sunburn.

   Synonym: red as a lobster

Noun

lobster (countable and uncountable, plural lobsters)

2. A crustacean of the Nephropidae family, dark green or blue-black in colour turning bright red when cooked, with a hard shell and claws, which is used as a seafood.
   • 1991, Markus Grosskopf, "Shit and Lobster", Helloween, Pink Bubbles Go Ape.

     Some get shit and some get lobster

3. A crustacean of the Palinuridae family, pinkish red in colour, with a hard, spiny shell but no claws, which is used as a seafood.
4. (slang, historical) A soldier or officer of the imperial British Army (due to their red or scarlet uniform).
   • 1912, Ralph Davol, Two Men of Taunton: In the Course of Human Events, 1731-1829, page 214:

     […] how the troops came marching out for evening exercise under Captain Preston; how pedestrians and street urchins taunted them, shouting "Lobsters," "Bloody-backs," and flinging snow-balls, turnips, […]

5. (slang) An Australian twenty-dollar note, due to its reddish-orange colour.

Synonyms

• (British soldier): lobsterback, redcoat

Hyponyms

• (crustacean in Palinuridae): cray, langouste, spiny lobster, rock lobster

Derived terms

• American lobster (Homarus americanus)
• Andaman lobster (Metanephrops andamanicus)
• Arafura lobster (Metanephrops arafurensis)
• Bermuda lobster (Panulirus argus)
• bight lobster (Metanephrops boschmai)
• blue lobster (Procambarus alleni)
• California lobster (Panulirus interruptus)
• Cape lobster (Homarinus capensis)
• Caribbean lobster (Metanephrops binghami)
• China lobster (Metanephrops sinensis)
• clawed lobster
• common lobster
• European lobster (Homarus gammarus)
• fan lobster (Ibacinae spp.)
• Formosa lobster
• furry lobster (Palinurellus spp.)
• globster
• Japanese lobster (Metanephrops japonicus)
• lobsterback
• lobster box
• lobster caterpillar (Stauropus alternus)
• lobster clasp
• lobster claw
• lobsterer
• lobsterette
• lobsterish
• lobsterlike
• lobsterling
• lobster louse Nicothoe astaci)
• lobsterman
• lobster moth (Stauropus alternus)
• lobster mushroom (Hypomyces lactifluorum)
• lobster Newberg
• lobster palace
• lobster pot
• lobster pound
• lobster prominent
• lobster roll
• lobster sauce
• lobster scorpion (Heterometrus swammerdami)
• lobster shift
• lobster sloop
• lobster-tailed pot
• lobster-tail pot
• lobster thermidor
• lobster trap
• lobsterwoman
• lobstery
• Maine lobster (Homarus americanus)
• (Metanephrops formosanus)
• mitten lobster (Parribacus spp.))
• mole lobster (Palinurellus wieneckii)
• mud lobster
• Neptune lobster (Metanephrops neptunus)
• New Zealand lobster (Metanephrops challengeri)
• northwest lobster (Metanephrops australiensis)
• Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus)
• raw lobster
• reef lobster (Enoplometopus spp.)
• rock lobster (Palinuridae)
• scorpion lobster
• sculpted lobster (Metanephrops sagamiensis)
• Siboga lobster (Metanephrops sibogae)
• slipper lobster (Scyllaridae)
• spiny lobster (Palinuridae)
• squat lobster (Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea)
• the world is one's lobster
• tree lobster
• true lobster (Homarus americanus)
• unboiled lobster
• velvet lobster (Metanephrops velutinus)
• white lobster

Translations

crustacean

• Abenaki: sôga
• Afrikaans: kreef
• Albanian: karavidhe (sq) f, gaforre e madhe f
• Arabic: كَرْكَنْد m (karkand)

  Egyptian Arabic: أسْتاكوْزا (ʔastakōza)

  South Levantine Arabic: ‎لوبستر (lōbster) (from English)

• Armenian: օմար (hy) (ōmar)
• Assamese: ডাঙৰ মিছামাছ (daṅor misamas)
• Asturian: llocántaru (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: xərçəng (az), omar
• Basque: otarraina
• Belarusian: ама́р m (amár)
• Bengali: গলদা (bn) (golda)
• Bhojpuri: झींगा (jhīṅgā)
• Bonggi: kulakng
• Breton: legestr (br) m
• Bulgarian: ома́р (bg) m (omár)
• Burmese: ပုဇွန်ထုတ်ကြီး (pu.jwanhtutkri:)
• Catalan: llagosta (ca) f, llamàntol (ca) m (European lobster), escamarlà (ca) m (Norwegian lobster)
• Cebuano: banagan
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 龍蝦 / 龙虾 (lung⁴ haa¹)

  Mandarin: 龍蝦 / 龙虾 (zh) (lóngxiā), 海螯蝦 / 海螯虾 (hǎiáoxiā)

  Wu: 龍蝦 / 龙虾

• Cornish: legest m
• Corsican: gàmbaru
• Czech: humr (cs) m
• Danish: hummer c
• Dhivehi: އިހި (ihi)
• Dupaningan Agta: lobugen
• Dutch: zeekreeft (nl) f, kreeft (nl) f, hommer (nl) m
• Esperanto: omaro
• Estonian: homaar
• Faroese: hummari m
• Finnish: hummeri (fi)
• French: (with claws) homard (fr) m, (without claws) langouste (fr) f
• Galician: lumbrigante (gl) m, lubrigante m, lagosta (gl) f
• Georgian: ასთაკვი (astaḳvi), კიბო (ḳibo), ლობსტერი (lobsṭeri)
• German: Hummer (de) m
• Greek: αστακός (el) m (astakós)

  Ancient: ἀστακός m (astakós), κάμμαρος m (kámmaros)

• Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can
• Guaraní: tuku
• Haitian Creole: oma
• Hawaiian: ula
• Hebrew: לוֹבְּסְטֶר (he) m (lóbster) (from English)
• Hiligaynon: karitot, kiritot, lukon
• Hindi: झींगा मछली (jhīṅgā machlī), लॉब्स्टर (lŏbsṭar)
• Hungarian: homár (hu)
• Icelandic: humar (is) m
• Ido: homardo (io)
• Indonesian: udang laut, lobster (id)
• Ingrian: krapu
• Interlingua: homaro
• Irish: gliomach (ga) m
• Italian: astice (it) m, aragosta (it) f, gambero di mare m, lupicante m
• Japanese: 伊勢海老 (ja) (ise ebi), イセエビ (ise ebi), オーマル (ōmaru) ロブスター (ja) (robusutā)
• Kazakh: омар (omar)
• Khmer: បង្កងសមុទ្រ (bɑngkɑɑng saʼmot), បង្កងសៅទាវ (bɑngkɑɑng saw tiəw)
• Korean: 가재 (ko) (gajae), 바닷가재 (ko) (badatgajae)
• Kyrgyz: омар (ky) (omar)
• Lao: ກຸ້ງໃຫຍ່ (kung nyai), ໂກ່ມ (kōm)
• Latin: cammarus m, astacus m
• Latvian: omārs m
• Lithuanian: omaras m
• Luxembourgish: Homard (lb), Hummer
• Macedonian: ја́стог m (jástog)
• Malay: udang kara, bekara (Labuan, Brunei)
• Malayalam: കൊഞ്ച് (ml) (koñcŭ)
• Maltese: awwista f
• Manx: gimmagh m
• Maranao: odang
• Mi'kmaq: jagej anim
• Middle English: loppestere
• Mizo: kaikuang
• Navajo: tónteel chʼoshtsoh bíláshgaantsohí
• Norman: honmard m (Jersey)
• Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hummer (no) m

  Nynorsk: hummar f

• Occitan: ligombau (oc)
• Old English: loppestre f
• Persian: خرچنگ دریایی (xarčang-e daryâyi), روبیان (fa) (rubiyân)
• Plautdietsch: Humma m
• Polish: homar (pl) m
• Portuguese: lagosta (pt) f
• Romanian: homar (ro) m
• Russian: ома́р (ru) m (omár), ло́бстер (ru) m (lóbstɛr)
• Scots: lapster
• Scottish Gaelic: giomach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ја̏стог m, хла̑п m

  Roman: jȁstog (sh) m, hlȃp (sh) m

• Slovak: morský rak m
• Slovene: jástog (sl) m
• Somali: argoosto, xayawaan (so)
• Spanish: langosta (es) f, bogavante (es) m, pigua f (Mexico), lobagante m, lubigante m, llocántaro m (Spain)
• Swedish: hummer (sv) c
• Tagalog: ulang
• Tajik: харчанги баҳрӣ (xarčang-i bahri)
• Thai: กุ้งมังกร (gûng-mang-gɔɔn), ล็อบสเตอร์ (lɔ́ps-dtə̂ə)
• Tongan: uo
• Turkish: ıstakoz (tr)
• Turkmen: omar
• Ukrainian: ома́р (uk) m (omár)
• Urdu: لابسٹر (lābsṭar)
• Uyghur: چوڭ راك (chong rak)
• Uzbek: omar
• Vietnamese: tôm hùm (vi), tôm rồng (vi)
• Volapük: humar (vo)
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Waray-Waray: banagan
• Welsh: cimwch (cy) m, cimychiaid pl
• West Frisian: kreeft c
• Yiddish: ראַק m (rak), האָמאַר m (homar), (US) לאָבסטער m (lobster)
• Zhuang: duzlungzyah

See also

• crawfish
• crayfish
• mudbug
• prawn
• shrimp
• yabby
• lobster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

lobster (third-person singular simple present lobsters, present participle lobstering, simple past and past participle lobstered)

1. To fish for lobsters.
2. (Internet slang) To trick someone into viewing a picture of a blue lobster accompanied by an excerpt of Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

Translations

To fish for lobsters

Anagrams

• trobles, Bolster, Strobel, Bolters, Stroble, Bortles, rebolts, bolters, orblets, reblots, bolster