Word Meanings - SHARK - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch fishes of the order Plagiostomi, found in all seas. Note: Some sharks, as the basking shark and the whale shark, grow to an enormous size, the former becoming forty feet or more, and the latter sixty feet

Additional info about word: SHARK

Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch fishes of the order Plagiostomi, found in all seas. Note: Some sharks, as the basking shark and the whale shark, grow to an enormous size, the former becoming forty feet or more, and the latter sixty feet or more, in length. Most of them are harmless to man, but some are exceedingly voracious. The man-eating sharks mostly belong to the genera Carcharhinus, Carcharodon, and related genera. They have several rows of large sharp teeth with serrated edges, as the great white shark of tropical seas, and the great blue shark of all tropical and temperate seas. The former sometimes becomes thirty-six feet long, and is the most voracious and dangerous species known. The rare man-eating shark of the United States coast (Charcarodon Atwoodi) is thought by some to be a variety, or the young, of C. carcharias. The dusky shark , and the smaller blue shark , both common species on the coast of the United States, are of moderate size and not dangerous. They feed on shellfish and bottom fishes. 2. A rapacious, artful person; a sharper. 3. Trickery; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark. South. Baskin shark, Liver shark, Nurse shark, Oil shark, Sand shark, Tiger shark, etc. See under Basking, Liver, etc. See also Dogfish, Houndfish, Notidanian, and Tope. -- Gray shark, the sand shark. -- Hammer-headed shark. See Hammerhead. -- Port Jackson shark. See Cestraciont. -- Shark barrow, the eggcase of a shark; a sea purse. -- Shark ray. Same as Angel fish , under Angel. -- Thrasher shark, or Thresher shark, a large, voracious shark. See Thrasher. -- Whale shark, a huge harmless shark of the Indian Ocean. It becomes sixty feet or more in length, but has very small teeth. (more info) carcharus a kind of dogfish, Gr. Shark, v. t.&i.); cf. Corn.

Related words: (words related to SHARK)

• BASKING SHARK
  One of the largest species of sharks , so called from its habit of basking in the sun; the liver shark, or bone shark. It inhabits the northern seas of Europe and America, and grows to a length of more than forty feet. It is a harmless species.
• BASKET BALL
  A game, usually played indoors, in which two parties of players contest with each other to toss a large inflated ball into opposite goals resembling baskets.
• FOUNDATION
  The lowest and supporting part or member of a wall, including the base course , under Base, n.) and footing courses; in a frame house, the whole substructure of masonry. 4. A donation or legacy appropriated to support a charitable institution,
• FORMERLY
  In time past, either in time immediately preceding or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.
• FOUND
  1. To lay the basis of; to set, or place, as on something solid, for support; to ground; to establish upon a basis, literal or figurative; to fix firmly. I had else been perfect, Whole as the marble, founded as the rock. Shak. A man that all his
• LATTERLY
  Lately; of late; recently; at a later, as distinguished from a former, period. Latterly Milton was short and thick. Richardson.
• LATTER-DAY SAINT
  A Mormon; -- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being the name assumed by the whole body of Mormons.
• LATTERKIN
  A pointed wooden tool used in glazing leaden lattice.
• WHALE
  Any aquatic mammal of the order Cetacea, especially any one of the large species, some of which become nearly one hundred feet long. Whales are hunted chiefly for their oil and baleen, or whalebone. Note: The existing whales are divided into two
• ENORMOUSLY
  In an enormous degree.
• FOUNDATIONER
  One who derives support from the funds or foundation of a college or school.
• SPECIES
  A group of individuals agreeing in common attributes, and designated by a common name; a conception subordinated to another conception, called a genus, or generic conception, from which it differs in containing or comprehending more attributes,
• ENORMOUS
  1. Exceeding the usual rule, norm, or measure; out of due proportion; inordinate; abnormal. "Enormous bliss." Milton. "This enormous state." Shak. "The hoop's enormous size." Jenyns. Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait. Milton.
• BECOME
  happen; akin to D. bekomen, OHG.a piquëman, Goth. biquiman to come 1. To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional
• FORTY
  1. The sum of four tens; forty units or objects. 2. A symbol expressing forty units; as, 40, or xl.
• FOUNDEROUS
  Difficult to travel; likely to trip one up; as, a founderous road. Burke.
• WHALEMAN
  A man employed in the whale fishery.
• WHALER
  A vessel or person employed in the whale fishery.
• FOUNDRESS
  A female founder; a woman who founds or establishes, or who endows with a fund.
• FOUNDERY
  See FOUNDRY
• DEFORMER
  One who deforms.
• BLATTER
  To prate; to babble; to rail; to make a senseless noise; to patter. "The rain blattered." Jeffrey. They procured . . . preachers to blatter against me, . . . so that they had place and time to belie me shamefully. Latimer.
• UNBECOMING
  Not becoming; unsuitable; unfit; indecorous; improper. My grief lets unbecoming speeches fall. Dryden. -- Un`be*com"ing*ly, adv. -- Un`be*com"ing*ness, n.
• FLATTER
  1. One who, or that which, makes flat or flattens. A flat-faced fulling hammer. A drawplate with a narrow, rectangular orifice, for drawing flat strips, as watch springs, etc.
• CONFOUNDED
  1. Confused; perplexed. A cloudy and confounded philosopher. Cudworth. 2. Excessive; extreme; abominable. He was a most confounded tory. Swift. The tongue of that confounded woman. Sir. W. Scott.
• BLATTEROON
  A senseless babbler or boaster. "I hate such blatteroons." Howell.
• INNUMEROUS
  Innumerable. Milton.
• BEFLATTER
  To flatter excessively.
• IMBORDER
  To furnish or inclose with a border; to form a border of. Milton.
• CLATTERINGLY
  With clattering.
• FOUNDER
  One who founds, establishes, and erects; one who lays a foundation; an author; one from whom anything originates; one who endows.
• SPLATTERDASH
  Uproar. Jamieson.
• MISORDER
  To order ill; to manage erroneously; to conduct badly. Shak.
• BREADBASKET
  The stomach. S. Foote.