SHRIMP

To contract; to shrink. [Obs.]

Any one of numerous species of macruran Crustacea belonging to Crangon and various allied genera, having a slender body and long legs. Many of them are used as food. The larger kinds are called also prawns. See Illust. of Decapoda.

In a more general sense, any species of the macruran tribe Caridea, or any species of the order Schizopoda, having a similar form.

In a loose sense, any small crustacean, including some amphipods and even certain entomostracans; as, the fairy shrimp, and brine shrimp. See under Fairy, and Brine.

Figuratively, a little wrinkled man; a dwarf; -- in contempt. This weak and writhled shrimp. Shak. Opossum shrimp. (Zoöl.) See under Opossum. -- Spector shrimp, or Skeleton shrimp (Zoöl.), any slender amphipod crustacean of the genus Caprella and allied genera. See Illust. under Læmodopoda. -- Shrimp catcher (Zoöl.), the little tern (Sterna minuta). -- Shrimp net, a dredge net fixed upon a pole, or a sweep net dragged over the fishing ground.