'Mantis shrimp' definitions:
Definition of 'mantis shrimp'
(from WordNet)
noun
Tropical marine burrowing crustaceans with large grasping appendages [syn: mantis shrimp, mantis crab]
Definition of 'Mantis shrimp'
From: GCIDE
- Mantis \Man"tis\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ? a prophet.] (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of voracious orthopterous insects of the genus Mantis, and allied genera. They are predacious long-bodied large-eyed insects of warm regions, are remarkable for their slender grotesque forms, and for holding their stout anterior legs in a manner suggesting hands folded in prayer. The common American species is Mantis Carolina. [1913 Webster]
- Mantis shrimp. (Zool.) The Squilla, a tropical marine burrowing crustacean with large grasping appendages. Also called mantis crab and mantis prawn. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'mantis shrimp'
From: GCIDE
- Squilla \Squil"la\ (skw[i^]l"l[.a]), n.; pl. E. Squillas (-l[.a]z), L. Squillae (-l[=e]). [L., a sea onion, also, a prawn or shrimp. See Squill.] (Zool.) Any one of numerous stomapod crustaceans of the genus Squilla and allied genera. They make burrows in mud or beneath stones on the seashore. Called also mantis shrimp. See Illust. under Stomapoda. [1913 Webster]