Word.ws English Dictionary

pistol shrimp

pistol shrimp noun: a shrimp (Alpheidae) which has asymmetrical claws, the larger of which can be used to produce a loud snapping sound and shockwave that can stun or kill its prey.

pistol shrimp: a shrimp (Alpheidae) which has asymmetrical claws, the larger of which can be used to produce a...
Image: OpenCage, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

pistol shrimp (plural pistol shrimps or pistol shrimp)

  1. A shrimp (Alpheidae) which has asymmetrical claws, the larger of which can be used to produce a loud snapping sound and shockwave that can stun or kill its prey.

Synonyms of pistol shrimp

Forms of pistol shrimp

pluralpistol shrimps
pluralpistol shrimp

Origin of pistol shrimp

The snapping claw is reminiscent of a pistol.

Questions about pistol shrimp

What does pistol shrimp mean?
Pistol shrimp means a shrimp (Alpheidae) which has asymmetrical claws, the larger of which can be used to produce a loud snapping sound and shockwave that can stun or kill its prey.
What part of speech is pistol shrimp?
Pistol shrimp is a noun.
What is the plural of pistol shrimp?
The plural of pistol shrimp is pistol shrimps.

Words near pistol shrimp in the dictionary

  1. pistol grip
  2. pistol grips
  3. pistol pipe
  4. pistol pipes
  5. Pistol River
  6. pistol shrimp
  7. pistol shrimps
  8. pistol squat
  9. pistol-pipe
  10. pistol-pipes
  11. pistol-whip

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pistol shrimp (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “pistol shrimp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pistol_shrimp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.