Limpet definition

lĭmpĭt
limpets
See word origin
Frequency:
One that clings persistently.
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A type of explosive designed to cling to the hull of a ship and detonate on contact or signal.
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Any of numerous marine gastropod mollusks that have a conical shell and often adhere to rocks in intertidal areas, especially those of the order Patellogastropoda.
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A gastropod mollusk of various families, mostly marine, with a single, low, cone-shaped shell and a thick, fleshy foot, by means of which it clings to rocks, timbers, etc.
noun
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A small mollusc, of the family Patellidae with a conical shell found clinging to rocks in the intertidal zones of rocky shores.
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(UK) Someone dependent; someone disregarding or ignorant of another's personal space.

He stuck to me like a limpet all day!

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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
limpet
Plural:
limpets

Origin of limpet

  • Probably Middle English lempet limpet (sense uncertain) Old English lamprede lempedu lamprey (both the limpet and the lamprey being noted for their powerful suckers) from Medieval Latin lamprēda lamprey

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Limpet Sentence Examples

  • The common limpet is a specially interesting and abundant example of the more primitive Aspidobranchia.

  • At low tide the limpet (being a strictly intertidal organism) is exposed to the air, and (according to trustworthy observers) quits its attachment and walks away in search of food (minute encrusting algae), and then once more returns to the identical spot, not an inch in diameter, which belongs, as it were, to it.

  • Thus, then, we find that the limpet possesses a symmetrically disposed pair of ctenidia in a rudimentary condition, and justifies its position among Aspidobranchia.

  • It is probable that the limpet takes several years to attain full growth, and during that period it frequents the same spot, which becomes gradually sunk below the surrounding surface, especially if the rock be carbonate of lime.

  • Harting informed the present writer that the bird seems to lay its head sideways on the ground, and then, grasping the limpet's shell close to the rock between the mandibles, use them as scissor-blades to cut off the mollusc from its sticking-place.

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