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hard-shell

American  
[hahrd-shel] / ˈhɑrdˌʃɛl /

adjective

  1. Also hard-shelled having a firm, hard shell, as a crab in its normal state; not having recently molted.

  2. rigid or uncompromising.

noun

  1. hard-shell crab.

hard-shell British  

adjective

  1. zoology having a shell or carapace that is thick, heavy, or hard

  2. strictly orthodox

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. another name for the quahog

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of hard-shell

First recorded in 1790–1800

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.