cherrystone

English

Etymology

From cherry +‎ stone. The name of the clam came from a fancied resemblance to a cherry's stone. The fancied resemblance is in shape, color, and sheen, not in size; the clams are several inches across.

Noun

cherrystone (plural cherrystones)

  2. (used as a size classification by fish merchants) Ellipsis of cherrystone clam, a hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) that has grown to a size within a certain range, being larger than a countneck, littleneck or topneck but smaller than a quahog.
    Hypernyms: hard clam, round clam, quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria < clam < mollusk < invertebrate < animal < organism
    Coordinate terms: countneck, peanut, littleneck, topneck, quahog
    • 1937, Damon Runyon, A Piece of Pie:
      Miss Violette Shumberger names twelve dozen cherrystone clams as the second course, and Joe Duffle says two gallons of Philadelphia pepperpot soup as the third.
  4. Synonym of cherry pit.
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