See Also: mussel(medicine)
mussel(dictionary)
mussel(encyclopedia)
mussel(dictionary)
zebra mussel(encyclopedia)
Mussel Shoals Beach(tourism)
Curried mussel and fennel soup(recipes)
Indian spiced mussel and saffron soup(recipes)
Langoustine and mussel chowder with herb celery(recipes)

mussel (iou)



mussel noun. Also (now rare) muscle.
[Old English muscle, muxle, musle, superseded by forms from corresp. Middle Low German mussel, Middle Dutch mosscele (Dutch mossel) = Old High German muscula (German Muschel), all from Proto-Romance alt. of Latin musculus: see MUSCLE noun1.]
Any of various bivalve molluscs belonging chiefly to the marine superfamily Mytilacea or to the freshwater superfamily Unionacea; esp. the common edible marine bivalve, Mytilus edulis, which has a dark grey, slightly elongated shell and adheres by a byssus, freq. in large aggregations.
horse mussel, pearl mussel, swan mussel, etc.
Comb.: mussel-bank, mussel-bed a large aggregation of mussels, esp. on intertidal rocks; mussel crab a pea-crab, Pinnotheres maculatus, which lives as a commensal in the shell of the edible mussel; mussel-cracker (chiefly S. Afr.) any of several fishes with powerful jaws, esp. (more fully white mussel-cracker) Cymatoceps nasutus and (more fully black mussel-cracker, blue mussel-cracker) Sparodon durbanensis, both of the family Sparidae; mussel-crusher (chiefly S. Afr.) = mussel-cracker above (white mussel-crusher = white mussel-cracker; black mussel-crusher, blue mussel-crusher = black mussel-cracker); mussel digger US (a) a grey whale; (b) a machine for digging mussel mud; mussel duck dial. a duck which feeds on mussels; esp. a scaup; mussel man a person who gathers mussels for a living; mussel mud: containing many mussel shells; mussel picker dial. an oystercatcher; mussel plum a dark purple variety of plum; mussel rake: used for gathering mussels; mussel scalp, mussel scaup a mussel-bed; mussel-shell (a) the shell of a mussel; (b) rare a person who gapes like a mussel-shell.
musselled adjective poisoned by eating mussels M19.