Definition of murex in US English:

nounPlural murices, Plural murexes

• A predatory tropical marine mollusk, the shell of which bears spines and forms a long narrow canal extending downward from the aperture.

  Genus Murex, family Muricidae, class Gastropoda

  Example sentences

  • ‘The region around Tyre was well known in the ancient world for its purple dye made from the murex grandaris mollusc.’
  • ‘Tyrian purple, from the shellfish murex, was a dye reserved for the emperor; this dye was worth several times its weight in gold.’
  • ‘In one corner were piles of seashells attractively packaged and framed in boxes for hanging on the wall - cowries and mitre shells, murex and spider shells.’
  • ‘However, the creatures inside murex shells are edible and are consumed in some parts of the world.’