n. & v.
--n.
1. (pl. same or shrimps) any of various small (esp. marine) edible crustaceans, with ten legs, grey-green when alive and pink when boiled.
2 colloq. a very small slight person.
--v.intr. go catching shrimps.
Phrases and idioms:
shrimp plant an evergreen shrub, Justicia brandegeana, bearing small white flowers in clusters of pinkish-brown bracts.
Derivatives:
shrimper n.
Etymology: ME, prob. rel. to MLG schrempen wrinkle, MHG schrimpfen contract, and SCRIMP