Meanings
plural soft-shell crabs
- A crab, especially the blue crab, that has recently molted and whose new exoskeleton has not yet hardened, rendering the entire animal soft and edible.
'Soft-shell crabs with tartare sauce, flat beef Hamburgers, medium-rare, from the charcoal grill, french-fried potatoes, broccoli, mixed salad with thousand-island dressing, ice-cream with melted butterscotch and as good a Liebfraumilch as you can get in America. Okay?'
1954, Ian Fleming, “The Red Carpet”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 9Synonyms: soft-shelled crab
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA crab, especially the blue crab, that has recently molted and whose new exoskeleton has not yet hardened, rendering the entire animal soft and edible.
More synonyms by meaning
nounfreshly molted crab with new shell still tender and flexible
nounedible crab that has recently molted and not yet formed its new shell
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
soft-shell crab. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soft-shell%20crab
“soft-shell crab.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soft-shell%20crab. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “soft-shell crab,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soft-shell%20crab.
Source: soft-shell crab on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.