limpet

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Related to limpet: Limpet Mine, keyhole limpet

limpet

any of various marine gastropod mollusks with a shallow conical shell and a broad muscular foot that sticks tightly to rocks: stuck like limpets to the spot, lest they forgot

Not to be confused with:

limpid – clear, transparent, as water or eyes: a limpid pool; lucid; easily comprehended: a limpid style of writing

lim·pet

(lĭm′pĭt)

1. Any of numerous marine gastropod mollusks that have a conical shell and often adhere to rocks in intertidal areas, especially those of the order Patellogastropoda.

2. One that clings persistently.

3. A type of explosive designed to cling to the hull of a ship and detonate on contact or signal.

[Probably Middle English lempet, limpet (sense uncertain); akin to Old English lamprede, lempedu, lamprey (both the limpet and the lamprey being noted for their powerful suckers), from Medieval Latin lamprēda; see lamprey.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

limpet

(ˈlɪmpɪt)

1. (Animals) any of numerous marine gastropods, such as Patella vulgata (common limpet) and Fissurella (or Diodora) apertura (keyhole limpet), that have a conical shell and are found clinging to rocks

2. (Animals) any of various similar freshwater gastropods, such as Ancylus fluviatilis (river limpet)

3. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) (modifier) relating to or denoting certain weapons that are attached to their targets by magnetic or adhesive properties and resist removal: limpet mines.

4. (Nautical Terms) a small open caisson shaped to fit against a dock wall, used mainly in repair work

[Old English lempedu, from Latin lepas, from Greek]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lim•pet

(ˈlɪm pɪt)

n.

any of various marine gastropods with a low conical shell open beneath, usu. adhering to rocks.

[before 1050; Middle English lempet, Old English lempedu, alter. of *lepedu < Latin lepada, acc. of lepas < Greek lepás limpet]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	limpet - mollusk with a low conical shell shellfish - meat of edible aquatic invertebrate with a shell (especially a mollusk or crustacean)
	2.	limpet - any of various usually marine gastropods with low conical shells; found clinging to rocks in littoral areas class Gasteropoda, class Gastropoda, Gasteropoda, Gastropoda - snails and slugs and their relatives seasnail - any of several creeping marine gastropods with a spirally coiled shell: whelks; tritons; moon shells; neritids common limpet, Patella vulgata - marine limpet Diodora apertura, Fissurella apertura, keyhole limpet - marine limpet having a conical shell with an opening at the apex

Translations

kuželnatkapřílipka

albueskæl

tapadó tengeri csiga

sæsnigill af òarahettuætt

patella

napslak

lapa

kužľovkamištička

deniz salyangozu

帽贝

limpet

[ˈlɪmpɪt]

A. N → lapa f
like a limpet → como una lapa

B. CPD limpet mine N → mina f lapa

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

limpet

[ˈlɪmpɪt] n → patelle f
like a limpet (fig) → comme une ventouse

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

limpet

n → Napfschnecke f; to stick to somebody like a limpet (inf) → wie eine Klette an jdm hängen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

limpet

[ˈlɪmpɪt] n (Zool) → patella (fig) → persona appiccicosa

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

limpet

(ˈlimpit) noun

a type of small, cone-shaped shellfish that fastens itself very firmly to rocks.

References in classic literature ?

She was adoring something shallow and smug, clinging to it, so the obstinate mouth witnessed, with the assiduity of a limpet; nothing would tear her from her demure belief in her own virtue and the virtues of her religion.

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Sir Charles Lyell also informs me that a Dyticus has been caught with an Ancylus (a fresh-water shell like a limpet) firmly adhering to it; and a water-beetle of the same family, a Colymbetes, once flew on board the 'Beagle,' when forty-five miles distant from the nearest land: how much farther it might have flown with a favouring gale no one can tell.

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to knock a limpet from the rock does not require even cunning, that lowest power of the mind.

View in context

I knew indeed that shell-fish were counted good to eat; and among the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets, which at first I could scarcely strike from their places, not knowing quickness to be needful.

A little after, as I was jumping about after my limpets, I was startled by a guinea-piece, which fell upon a rock in front of me and glanced off into the sea.

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As to the fauna, it might be counted by thousands of crustacea of all sorts, lobsters, crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps, and a large number of shells, rockfish, and limpets. Three-quarters of an hour later we had finished our circuitous walk and were on board.

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I continued three days feeding on oysters and limpets, to save my own provisions; and I fortunately found a brook of excellent water, which gave me great relief.

View in context

Neither Saudi Arabia nor its allies will be discouraged by any number of failed attacks, drones or limpet mines.

A futile campaign by Al Houthis

It's almost impossible to place a limpet mine once a ship is underway.

Gulf explosion: a real Iranian attack or a false flag?

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates: The United States sought Wednesday to bolster its case for isolating Iran over its nuclear and regional activities by displaying limpet mine fragments it said came from a damaged oil tanker and saying the ordnance looked Iranian in origin.

U.S.: Mine fragments from tanker attacks point to Iran

The US military had previously released images it said showed the IRGC removing an unexploded limpet mine from the Kokuka Courageous, which was hit by explosions along with the Norwegian-owned Front Altair ship on June 13.

US Army recovers finger prints from Japanese oil tanker attacked in Oman

Following the attack, sailors on the ship discovered a second limpet mine that didn't explode and abandoned ship, the Pentagon said.