soft-shell
Also soft shell.
[f. soft a.]
1. attrib. In the specific names of animals: Provided with a soft shell; = soft-shelled 1. soft-shell clam, crab = soft clam, crab s.v. soft a. 29 c; soft-shell turtle, a freshwater turtle of the genus Trionyx.
| 1805 J. Ordway Jrnl. 26 May in Wisconsin Hist. Coll. (1916) XXII. 218 Passed 2 creeks..in one of them saw Soft Shell Turtle. 1818 Amer. Monthly Mag. II. 296 Soft shell Clam. These animals..are excellent eating. 1844 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. vi. 11 During this interval, they are known under the name of Soft-shell Crabs, or Shedders. 1847 Knickerbocker XXIX. 494 A battle between a soft-shell turtle..and a terrier puppy. 1860 Mayne Reid Hunter's Feast xii, The ‘soft-shell’ crabs and small tortoises common in the American waters. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 152 The food of the Soft-shell Turtles consists of small fishes, snails, and other small animals. 1887 Soft-shell crab [see diamond-back a.]. 1891 Webster (1897), Soft-shell clam,..the long clam. 1977 E. Leonard Unknown Man No. 80 xx. 202 Softshell crabs, very good fish, steak. 1980 Washington Post 27 June (Weekend Suppl.) 36/1 You mustn't rush through the throng, hoagie in one hand, soft-shell crab sandwich in the other. |
| transf. 1883 Goode Fish. Indust. U.S. 51 This Crab is eaten in both the hard and soft shell condition. |
2. attrib. That adopts or advocates a moderate or temperate course or policy.
U.S.| 1845 Knickerbocker XXVI. 285 The ‘Hard and Soft Shell Baptists’. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 426 Soft-shell democrats,..the less conservative division of the New York Democrats. 1865 Pall Mall G. 12 May 1 The type of what the Americans might call the ‘soft-shell’ Radicals. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 241 Such are the Soft Shell Baptists, so called on account of their less stern manners and less rigid principles. |
3. ellipt. a. = soft n. 4 b.
U.S.| 1845 [see hardshell n. 2]. 1853 N.Y. Tribune 2 Apr. (Bartlett s.v. Hard-shell), The difference between a Hardshell and a Softshell. 1866 Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 201/1 The ‘Soft Shells’ were ‘Free-soil’ Democrats. |
b. A soft-shelled lobster, crab or turtle.
U.S.| 1830 R. C. Sands Writings (1834) II. 230 The soft-shell of the Red River. 1846 T. B. Thorpe Myst. Backwoods 156 It is Turtle Lake from its abundance of ‘green, amphibious soft-shells’. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 783 ‘Black Lobster,’ ‘Soft-shell,’ ‘Berried Lobster.’ 1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. iii. 79 Ah'm gointer prune a gang of soft-shells (turtles). 1941 Louisiana (Writers' Program) 227 ‘Soft⁓shells’ and ‘busters’ (shedding crabs from which the old shell is pried off) are coated with cracker meal and fried. 1942 [see hardshell a. 1]. 1958 R. Conant Field Guide Reptiles & Amphibians 70 The Florida Softshell lives chiefly in lakes; all the others are river turtles to a large degree. |