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  1. minnow love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of a large group of small freshwater fishes of the family Cyprinidae, widely used as live bait.
  2. n. Any of various other small, often silver-colored fishes.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The smallest of the British cyprinoid fishes, Phoxinus aphya or lævis. Artificial minnows are nsed by anglers for trolling, spinning, or casting, and are made of metal, glass, and rubber, gilded, silvered, or painted attractively.
  2. n. In the United States, one of many different fishes of small size, Any cyprinoid of the genus Phoxinus, of which there are several species, from 1½ to 3 inches long, in the Mississippi basin and westward, as P. neogœus, P. flammeus, P. phlegethontis. This is the correct use of minnow, though in popnlar speech it extends to various other little cyprinoids, also loosely called roach, dace, shiner, etc. Among these may be mentioned the red minnows of the genus Chrosomus, as C. erythrogas-ter, one of the prettiest of all, 2 or 3 inches long; the silvery minnow, Hybognathus nuchalis, and others of this genus; the black-headed minnow or fathead, Pimephales promelas; the blunt-nosed minnow, Hyborhynchus notalus; the Texan hardmouth minnow, Cochlognathus ornatus; the bull-headed and straw-colored minnows. Cliola taurocephalus and C. straminea; the spotted-tail, C. stigmaturus, and more than 60 other kinds of Cliola; about 50 shiners of the genus Minnilus; various species of the genera Rhinichthys, Ceratichthys, Apocope, Couesius, etc. These abound in fresh waters of the United States, and minnow is the nsual name of all those which have not more particular designations.
  3. n. A name sometimes given to a very small fish of New Zealand, Galaxias attenuatus, of the family Galaxidæ. Also called whitebait. The Maori name is inanga.
  4. n. See leatherside.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A small freshwater fish of the carp family.
  2. n. More generally, any small fish.
  3. n. soccer A low-level team, in comparison to their opponents.
  4. v. fishing to fish minnows
  5. v. fishing to fish (especially trout) using a minnow as bait

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Zoöl.) A small European fresh-water cyprinoid fish (Phoxinus lævis, formerly Leuciscus phoxinus); sometimes applied also to the young of larger kinds; -- called also minim and minny. The name is also applied to several allied American species, of the genera Phoxinus, Notropis, or Minnilus, and Rhinichthys.
  2. n. (Zoöl.) Any of numerous small American cyprinodont fishes of the genus Fundulus, and related genera. They live both in fresh and in salt water. Called also killifish, minny, and mummichog.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. very small European freshwater fish common in gravelly streams

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English menow, from Old English *mynwe, oblique form of *mynu, unattested variant of Old English myne ("minnow, small fish"), from Proto-Germanic *muniwō (“minnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small”). Cognate with Middle Low German mone, möne (West Frisian meun, Dutch meun), Old High German muniwa, munuwa, munewa (German Münne ("minnow")). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English meneu; see men-4 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • yarb A six-foot minnow? I dread to think of what a full-grown Colorado Pike looks like. Nov 27, 2007

  • mollusque "The Colorado Pike Minnow is the largest minnow in North America. These fish have been known to reach six feet in length and 80 pounds in weight."

    But do they eat ducks?
    Nov 27, 2007

  • yarb Yes, it's funny how you never hear about a big minnow. Nov 27, 2007

  • chained_bear If I were a duck, I'd eat minnows. They're very small. Nov 26, 2007

  • yarb Excellent. Thank you. Nov 26, 2007

  • trivet Most town ducks, like mallards, tend to be dabbling vegetarians, though few vegetarian animals will turn down free protein. See pika discussion.

    Opportunistic minnovores, perhaps. Nov 26, 2007

  • yarb Thanks trivet! Do you happen to know whether your common or garden pond-ducks are minnovorous, so to speak? Ordinary town ducks, you know. Nov 26, 2007

  • trivet Depends on the duck - some are vegetarian, but others, like the merganser, are fishing ducks. Nov 26, 2007

  • uselessness I wouldn't think the flat bill would be very conducive to catching or swallowing fish, but I'm no biologist... Nov 26, 2007

  • yarb Does anyone know if ducks eat minnows? Nov 26, 2007

  • chained_bear Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
    A tale of a fateful trip... (or something).

    Uh-oh! Earworm alert!! Oct 22, 2007

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‘minnow’ has been looked up 2267 times, loved by 3 people, added to 28 lists, commented on 11 times, and has a Scrabble score of 11.