: any of numerous marine bivalve lamellibranch mollusks (family Pectinidae) that have a radially ribbed shell with the edge undulated and that swim by opening and closing the valves
b
: the adductor muscle of a scallop as an article of food
2
a
: a valve or shell of a scallop
b
: a baking dish shaped like a valve of a scallop
3
: one of a continuous series of circle segments or angular projections forming a border (as on cloth or metal)
An Irish trawler is facing the might of U.K. telecoms giant Virgin Media over the accusation that its hunt for scallops caused hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to undersea cables.—Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune Europe, 5 June 2024 That’s why his youngest brother Koichi visits the Nagahama fish market in Japan every day at 2 a.m. to box up tuna, mackerel and scallops in dry ice and ship them to Sushi Denver in less than 24 hours.—Lily O'Neill, The Denver Post, 29 May 2024
Verb
The fish selection includes a number of decadent belly cuts — from salmon and yellowtail — as well as ikura and Hokkaido scallops.—John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 1 May 2024 His new dinner menu features such entrees as vegetable cassoulet, Hokkaido scallops and whole pink snapper accompanied by a pistachio romesco sauce.—Lori Weisberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for scallop
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scallop.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English scalop, from Anglo-French escalope shell, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch schelpe shell
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