herring

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various fishes of the family Clupeidae, especially a commercially important food fish (Clupea harengus) of Atlantic and Pacific waters.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A clupeoid fish, Clupea harengus, of great economic importance and commercial value. It has an elongate form, and rather loose scales averaging about 57 transverse rows. The vomer has an ovate patch of teeth; the ventral serratures are weak; the color is bluish above and on the scales, varied with bright reflections. The herring inhabits the North Atlantic, especially in water of moderate depth. It is generally found not far from the coast, and in summer it comes into shallow water in countless myriads for the purpose of spawning. The spawning season varies according to temperature; in the Gulf of St. Lawrence it occurs in the spring, off the coast of Maine in September, at Cape Cod in November, and off Block Island in December. In Europe the visits of the herring to the shores depend likewise on temperature, and various regions have special varieties differing in size and slight structural characters. It is the object of very profitable fisheries, especially on the Norwegian, Dutch, and British coasts. The eggs are very small, and are discharged at the bottom of the water, where they adhere to rocks and seaweed, being scattered singly or in bunches over a vast extent of sea-bottom. The number of eggs to a female varies according to size, but averages about 10,000—in very large females many more. A closely related species, C. mirabilis, is found in equal abundance in the North Pacific. The name is extended to the herring family, including the Clupeidœ, or shad, alewife, menhaden, pilchard, sprat, sardine, etc.
2. n. A herring which has been gutted and dried for keeping.
3. n. A pickled herring.
4. To manure with herring or other fish.
5. n. In Australia, Prototroctes maræna, the Yarra herring, fresh-water herring, grayling, or cucumber-mullet, found in the rivers of Victoria and Tasmania.
6. n. The ten-pounder, Elops saurus, found in all tropical waters.

Wiktionary

1. n. A type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) One of various species of fishes of the genus Clupea, and allied genera, esp. the common round or English herring (Clupea harengus) of the North Atlantic. Herrings move in vast schools, coming in spring to the shores of Europe and America, where they are salted and smoked in great quantities.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. commercially important food fish of northern waters of both Atlantic and Pacific
2. n. valuable flesh of fatty fish from shallow waters of northern Atlantic or Pacific; usually salted or pickled