shark

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“
Our encounter with the shark was the first great danger that had befallen us since landing on this island, and we felt very seriously affected by it, especially when we considered that we had so often unwittingly incurred the same danger before while bathing.

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Definitions (63)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun Any of numerous chiefly marine carnivorous fishes of the class Chondrichthyes (subclass Elasmobranchii), which are sometimes large and voracious and have a streamlined torpedolike body, five to seven gill openings on each side of the head, a large oil-filled liver, a cartilaginous skeleton, and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales.
  2. noun A person regarded as ruthless, greedy, or dishonest.
  3. noun A vicious usurer.
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Examples (50)

  • The loss of a Spanish galleon in chase, I am persuaded, could hardly cause more bitter regret, or call forth more intemperate expressions of anger and impatience than the failure in hooking a shark is always sure to produce on board a ship at sea. —  The Lieutenant and Commander
  • The tenderest spot in a shark is the end of his nose.
  • Jumping the shark is a critics and fans to denote that point in a TV show or movie series 'history where the plot veers off into ridiculous story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, undergoing too many changes to retain the original appeal of the series. —  Latest Articles
  • Not every bystander who watches while the fireys drag people from a burning house or gather around the ambos as they patch up a surfer mauled by a shark is a sicko or ghoulish. —  NEWS.com.au | Top Stories
  • Northern NSW lifeguard co-ordinator Steven Leahy said that in yesterday's attack, the group saw the dolphins around and did not realise a shark was among them until they saw some thrashing in the water. —  NEWS.com.au | Top Stories
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Words tagged shark

cephaloscyllium · psammodont · pleuracanth · petalodont · stethacanthus · hybodus · carcharodon · cladodont · helicoprion · carpet sharks · coral catshark

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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Not found in Middle English (the Middle English name therefor being hound-fish): usually derived from Latin carcharus, from Greek καρχαρίας, a kind of shark, so called from its sharp teeth, from κάρχαρος jagged (of teeth); cf. καρκίνος, a crab; Sanskrit karkata, a crab, karkara, hard. But the requisite Old French forms intermediate between English shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is not certain that the name was orig. applied to the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy man (see shark).
  2. from shark, n.
  3. Now regarded as a transferred use of sharks, but prob. orig. of different origin (and perhaps itself the source of shark); associated with shark, v.
  4. Prob. from shark, n. (according to the usual view, from shark), Cf. shirk, which is thought to be a variant of shark.
 

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/ʃɑrk/
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