Conch

[kɒŋk;kɒn(t)ʃ] or [kɔŋk;kɔn(t)ʃ]

Definition

(noun.) any of various edible tropical marine gastropods of the genus Strombus having a brightly-colored spiral shell with large outer lip.

Typed by Felix--From WordNet

Definition

(n.) A name applied to various marine univalve shells; esp. to those of the genus Strombus, which are of large size. S. gigas is the large pink West Indian conch. The large king, queen, and cameo conchs are of the genus Cassis. See Cameo.

(n.) In works of art, the shell used by Tritons as a trumpet.

(n.) One of the white natives of the Bahama Islands or one of their descendants in the Florida Keys; -- so called from the commonness of the conch there, or because they use it for food.

(n.) See Concha, n.

(n.) The external ear. See Concha, n., 2.

Editor: Louise

Definition

n. a marine shell: a spiral shell used by the Tritons as a trumpet and still used by some African peoples in war: a name for the native whites of the Bahamas owing to their use of conchs as food: (archit.) the semidome of an apse; the apse itself.—n. Conchif′era a term applied by Lamarck to bivalve molluscs and to very different Brachiopods.—adjs. Conchif′erous having a shell; Conch′iform conch-shaped.—n. Conch′oid a plane curve invented to solve the problem of trisecting a plane angle doubling the cube &c.—adjs. Conchoid′al pertaining to a conchoid: shell-like applied to the fracture of a mineral; Concholog′ical pertaining to conchology.—ns. Conchol′ogist; Conchol′ogy that branch of natural history which deals with the shells of molluscs.

Edited by Denny