lobster

From Middle English loppestere, lopster, from Old English loppestre, lopustre, lopystre, of uncertain origin. Some believe it to be a corruption of Latin lō̆custa (“grasshopper, locust”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre. In Latin, the phrase lō̆custa marīna (literally "sea-grasshopper") signified a type of crustacean (shrimp or lobster).

Alternatively, from Old English lobbe, loppe (“spider”) + the Old English feminine agent suffix -estre, equivalent to lop +‎ -ster.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒb.stə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑb.stɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒbstə(ɹ)

lobster (comparative more lobster, superlative most lobster)

1. Red-colored, especially from a sunburn.

   Synonym: red as a lobster

lobster (countable and uncountable, plural lobsters)

1. A crustacean of the Nephropidae family, dark green or blue-black in colour turning bright red when cooked, with a hard shell and claws, which is used as a seafood.
   • 1991, Markus Grosskopf, "Shit and Lobster", Helloween, Pink Bubbles Go Ape.

     Some get shit and some get lobster

2. A crustacean of the Palinuridae family, pinkish red in colour, with a hard, spiny shell but no claws, which is used as a seafood.
3. (slang, historical) A soldier or officer of the imperial British Army (due to their red or scarlet uniform).
   • 1912, Ralph Davol, Two Men of Taunton: In the Course of Human Events, 1731-1829, page 214:

     […] how the troops came marching out for evening exercise under Captain Preston; how pedestrians and street urchins taunted them, shouting "Lobsters," "Bloody-backs," and flinging snow-balls, turnips, […]

4. (slang) An Australian twenty-dollar note, due to its reddish-orange colour.

• (British soldier): lobsterback, redcoat

• (crustacean in Palinuridae): cray, langouste, spiny lobster, rock lobster

• crawfish
• crayfish
• mudbug
• prawn
• shrimp
• yabby
• lobster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

lobster (third-person singular simple present lobsters, present participle lobstering, simple past and past participle lobstered)

1. To fish for lobsters.
2. (Internet slang) To trick someone with a blue lobster picture and an annoying Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

• Bolster, Bortles, Strobel, Stroble, bolster, bolters, reblots, rebolts, trobles