Adjacent Words

garfish definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: primitive predaceous North American fish covered with hard scales and having long jaws with needlelike teeth [syn: gar, garfish, garpike, billfish, Lepisosteus osseus]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English garfysshe Date: 15th century gar

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. same) 1 any mainly marine fish of the family Belonidae, esp. Belone belone, having long beaklike jaws with sharp teeth. Also called NEEDLEFISH. 2 US any similar freshwater fish of the genus Lepisosteus, with ganoid scales. Also called GAR or GARPIKE. 3 NZ & Austral. either of two marine fish of the genus Hemiramphus. Also called HALFBEAK. Etymology: app. f. OE gar spear + fisc FISH(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Garfish Gar"fish`, n. [See Gar, n.] (Zo["o]l.) (a) A European marine fish (Belone vulgaris); -- called also gar, gerrick, greenback, greenbone, gorebill, hornfish, longnose, mackerel guide, sea needle, and sea pike. (b) One of several species of similar fishes of the genus Tylosurus, of which one species (T. marinus) is common on the Atlantic coast. T. Caribb[ae]us, a very large species, and T. crassus, are more southern; -- called also needlefish. Many of the common names of the European garfish are also applied to the American species.