Hypertext Webster Gateway: "cowry"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cowrie \Cow"rie\ Cowry \Cow"ry\(kou"r[y^]), n.; pl. {Cowries}
(-r[i^]z). [Hind. kaur[imac].] (Zo["o]l.)
A marine shell of the genus {Cypr[ae]a}.
Note: There are numerous species, many of them ornamental.
Formerly {C. moneta} and several other species were
largely used as money in Africa and some other
countries, and they are still so used to some extent.
The value is always trifling, and varies at different
places.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
cowry
n : any of numerous tropical marine gastropods of the genus
Cypraea having highly polished usually brightly marked
shells [syn: {cowrie}]
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