HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
scal·lop  (skŏləp, skăl-) also scol·lop (skŏl-)
Share:
Tweet n. 1. a. Any of various marine bivalve mollusks of the family Pectinidae, having fan-shaped shells with a radiating fluted pattern. b. The edible adductor muscle of a scallop. c. A shell of a scallop, or a dish in a similar shape, used for baking and serving seafood. 2. One of a series of curved projections forming an ornamental border. 3. See escalope. v. scal·loped, scal·lop·ing, scal·lops also scol·loped or scol·lop·ing or scol·lops v.tr. 1. To edge (cloth, for example) with a series of curved projections. 2. To bake in a casserole with milk or a sauce and often with bread crumbs: scalloped potatoes. 3. To cut (meat) into thin boneless slices. v.intr. To gather scallops for eating or sale. [Middle English scalop, from Old French escalope, shell, perhaps of Germanic origin (akin to Dutch schelp, seashell), or from Old French escale, scale; see SCALE1 + Old French (envel)ope, enveloping cover (from enveloper, to envelop; see ENVELOP).] scallop·er n.  (click for a larger image) scallopgreat scallop Pecten maximus |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
