HERMIT CRAB • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Hermit crab

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/hˈərmət kræb/ Listen

noun

Hermit n.

A person who retires from society and lives in solitude; a recluse; an anchoret; especially, one who so lives from religious motives. "He had been Duke of Savoy, and after a very glorious reign, took on him the habit of a hermit, and retired into this solitary spot."

A beadsman; one bound to pray for another. (Obs.) "We rest your hermits."

(Cookery) A spiced molasses cookie, often containing chopped raisins and nuts.

Hermit crab (Zool.), a marine decapod crustacean of the family Paguridae. The species are numerous, and belong to many genera. Called also soldier crab. The hermit crabs usually occupy the dead shells of various univalve mollusks.

Hermit thrush (Zool.), an American thrush (Turdus Pallasii), with retiring habits, but having a sweet song.

Hermit warbler (Zool.), a California wood warbler (Dendroica occidentalis), having the head yellow, the throat black, and the back gray, with black streaks.

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Etymology of 'Hermit crab'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Hermit crab" Quotes from Famous Books

... woman, by her own explanation, can dominate my nervous organism. She can project herself into my body and take command of it. She has a parasite soul; yes, she is a parasite, a monstrous parasite. She creeps into my frame as the hermit crab does into the whelk's shell. I am powerless What can I do? I am dealing with forces of which I know nothing. And I can tell no one of my trouble. They would set me down as a madman. Certainly, if it got ...

— The Parasite • Arthur Conan Doyle