[Note: Parts of this entry were previously at crawdad.]
crawldad n Also crawldaddy [By folk-etym from crawdad n 1 and its var crawdaddy; cf crawlfish n]
= crawfish n B1.
1916 Hunter-Trader-Trapper July 64, I will also say that your bait will last longer in the ripples than in still water, as the small fish, turtles and crawl daddies don’t bother it so bad. 1940 Brown Amer. Cooks 269 LA, The Cajuns. . . live close to the earth and the “redbones” who subsist in the bayous on crawfish, called crawdaddy and crawl-daddy. 1972 Decatur Daily Democrat (IN) 23 Sept 4/2, Our apologies, fella, we weren’t aware that you could tell the difference between a carp and a crawldad. 2006 in 2017 DARE File—Internet WA, He found a small crawldaddy pot, that had been down for at least 5 years. That is where we found the only life in the water up there: freshwater crawldaddies. 2008 Ibid swOH, That would be like controlling crawldads on Illinoian Glacial Till. Heard a story the other day that a farmer brought in a crawldad chimney that was so big the birds roosted on it. 2010 Ibid LA, The best water I have ever had was also mountain spring water with salamanders and crawl daddies in it from back home in TN. 2011 Ibid WV, I had crawl daddies and frogs and tadpoles and even mosquitoes!