Adjacent Words

Sunfish definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUN'FISH, n. [sun and fish.] A name of the diodon, a genus of fishes of a very singular form, appearing like the fore part of the body of a very deep fish amputated in the middle.
The sunfish is the Tetraodon mola of Linne.
1. The basking shark.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the lean flesh of any of numerous American perch-like fishes of the family Centrarchidae
2: among the largest bony fish; pelagic fish having an oval compressed body with high dorsal and anal fins and caudal fin reduced to a rudder-like lobe; worldwide in warm waters [syn: ocean sunfish, sunfish, mola, headfish]
3: small carnivorous freshwater percoid fishes of North America usually having a laterally compressed body and metallic luster: crappies; black bass; bluegills; pumpkinseed [syn: sunfish, centrarchid]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1629 1. ocean sunfish 2. any of numerous North American freshwater bony fishes (family Centrarchidae, especially genus Lepomis) usually with a deep compressed body and metallic luster

Merriam Webster's

trademark used for a small light sailboat that has one sail

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any of various almost spherical fish, esp. a large ocean fish, Mola mola.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Moonfish Moon"fish`, n. (Zo["o]l.) (a) An American marine fish (Vomer setipennis); -- called also bluntnosed shiner, horsefish, and sunfish. (b) A broad, thin, silvery marine fish (Selene vomer); -- called also lookdown, and silver moonfish. (c) The mola. See Sunfish, 1.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sunfish Sun"fish`, n. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A very large oceanic plectognath fish (Mola mola, Mola rotunda, or Orthagoriscus mola) having a broad body and a truncated tail. (b) Any one of numerous species of perch-like North American fresh-water fishes of the family Centrachid[ae]. They have a broad, compressed body, and strong dorsal spines. Among the common species of the Eastern United States are Lepomis gibbosus (called also bream, pondfish, pumpkin seed, and sunny), the blue sunfish, or dollardee (L. pallidus), and the long-eared sunfish (L. auritus). Several of the species are called also pondfish. (c) The moonfish, or bluntnosed shiner. (d) The opah. (e) The basking, or liver, shark. (f) Any large jellyfish.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pondfish Pond"fish`, n. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of American fresh-water fishes belonging to the family Centrarchid[ae]; -- called also pond perch, and sunfish. Note: The common pondfish of New England (Lepomis gibbosus) is called also bream, pumpkin seed, and sunny. See Sunfish. The long-eared pondfish (Lepomis auritus) of the Eastern United States is distinguished by its very long opercular flap.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Basking-shark (Selachus maximus).