noun
Etymology: so called from its living in the empty shells of gastropods, like a hermit in a cave
1. : any of numerous chiefly marine decapod crustaceans of the families Paguridae and Parapaguridae having somewhat elongated bodies and soft and more or less asymmetrical abdomens, occupying the empty shells of gastropods, and seeking larger shells as they increase in size — compare purse crab
2. : one that behaves like a hermit crab
creep out of that shell of gentility, you little hermit crab — W.J.Locke
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