Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous cartilaginous fishes of the subclass Elasmobranchii that are chiefly carnivorous and marine. Sharks have a streamlined torpedolike body, five to seven gill openings on each side of the head, a large oil-filled liver, and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales.
  • noun Informal A person, such as a loan shark, who takes advantage of the misfortune of others for personal gain.
  • noun Informal A person unusually skilled in a particular activity.
  • intransitive verb To obtain by deceitful or underhand means.
  • intransitive verb To take advantage of others for personal gain, especially by fraud and trickery.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To play the shark or needy adventurer; live by one's wits; depend on or practise the shifts and stratagems of a needy adventurer; swindle: sometimes with an impersonal it: as, to shark for a living.
  • To pick up; obtain or get together by sharking: with up or out.
  • noun A selachian of the subclass Plagiostomi, of an elongate form, with the pectoral fins moderately developed, the branchial apertures lateral, and the mouth inferior (rarely terminal).
  • To fish for or catch sharks.
  • noun A sharper; a cheat; a greedy, dishonest fellow who eagerly preys upon others; a rapacious swindler.
  • noun The sharp practice and petty shifts and stratagems of a swindler or needy adventurer.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To pick or gather indiscriminately or covertly.
  • intransitive verb To play the petty thief; to practice fraud or trickery; to swindle.
  • intransitive verb To live by shifts and stratagems.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch fishes of the order Plagiostomi, found in all seas.
  • noun colloq. A rapacious, artful person; a sharper.
  • noun obsolete Trickery; fraud; petty rapine.
  • noun See under Basking, Liver, etc. See also Dogfish, Houndfish, Notidanian, and Tope.
  • noun the sand shark.
  • noun See Hammerhead.
  • noun See Cestraciont.
  • noun the eggcase of a shark; a sea purse.
  • noun Same as Angel fish (a), under Angel.
  • noun a large, voracious shark. See Thrasher.
  • noun a huge harmless shark (Rhinodon typicus) of the Indian Ocean. It becomes sixty feet or more in length, but has very small teeth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal, derogatory A sleazy and amoral lawyer; an ambulance chaser.
  • noun informal A relentless and resolute person or group, especially in business.
  • noun informal A very good poker or pool player.
  • noun A person who feigns ineptitude to win money from others.
  • verb obsolete To steal or obtain through fraud.
  • verb obsolete, intransitive To play the petty thief; to practice fraud or trickery; to swindle.
  • verb obsolete, intransitive To live by shifts and stratagems.
  • noun A scaleless, predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb play the shark; act with trickery
  • noun any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales
  • verb hunt shark
  • noun a person who is ruthless and greedy and dishonest
  • noun a person who is unusually skilled in certain ways

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the German Schurke ("scoundrel").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested in the 1560s, the word meaning 'scaleless fish' is of uncertain origin: it was apparently brought to England, with a specimen, by John Hawkins. The word may derive from the Yucatec Maya xoc, or it may be an application of the "scoundrel" sense (which derives from the German Schurke ("scoundrel")) to the fish; no explanation is agreed upon.

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Examples

  • These are often removed while the shark is alive: the mutilated animal is then thrown overboard.

    Back Biodiversity 100, save our wildlife George Monbiot 2010

  • Named in 1884, this shark is a living representative of a primitive shark order, Hexanchiformes.

    Archive 2007-01-01 2007

  • The old grandfather had died in the meantime, so that he was dependent on the food supplied by his stepfather and uncles, and they had to expostulate with him on what they called his shark-like voracity.

    Hawaiian Folk Tales A Collection of Native Legends 1887

  • An Iraqi judge from 13th-century CE described sharks in the Tigris River as having eyes "like fires of blood ... all other species run away from it" and the Mayans had an ominous, killer demon known as Ah Xoc, which some have argued gave us the word shark.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • If we hear the word shark .. everyone will think that it is dangerous but do you know that the dangerous kind of shark is not plenty there.

    WN.com - Articles related to No more eating shark fin in Hawaii after new law 2010

  • If we hear the word shark .. everyone will think that it is dangerous but do you know that the dangerous kind of shark is not plenty there.

    WN.com - Articles related to No more eating shark fin in Hawaii after new law 2010

  • Yes | No | Report from bailor 09 wrote 39 weeks 6 days ago thats a good one and the shark is nice too

    Field & Stream 2009

  • If you're in shark filled waters swimming toward land a knife is not going to help much you need your brain above all else.

    what is the most importaint surviva; tool? 2009

  • If you're in shark filled waters swimming toward land a knife is not going to help much you need your brain above all else.

    what is the most importaint surviva; tool? 2009

  • Yes | No | Report from bailor 09 wrote 39 weeks 6 days ago thats a good one and the shark is nice too

    Field & Stream 2009

  • That pride quickly turns to regret after the first couple runs when the not-so-bottomless powder reveals lurking knife edge rocks (known as “shark fins”) that gouge base material like a chisel.

    An ode to rock skis Vince Shuley 2018

Comments

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  • Some species of shark must continually swim to avoid asphyxiation. Something along the same lines is true of the human brain. Deprived of all inflow of sensation, it must create its own (ala John Lilly's hallucination-inducing isolation tank experimentation). "Impressions" (q.v. Gurdjieff) are "food" for the brain, grist for the mental mill.

    August 24, 2007

  • its use as a verb (to live by fraud or trickery) may be somewhat archaic

    October 28, 2007

  • located in Merriam Webtster's Notebook Dictionary pg 73

    September 25, 2010

  • Having trouble with a scoundrel?

    You're going to need a bigger boat.

    October 20, 2015

  • "He desired Mr. Jolter to keep his pupil out of the clutches of those sharking priests who lie in wait to make converts of all young strangers, and in a particular manner cautioned the youth against carnal conversation with the Parisian dames, who, he understood, were no better than gaudy fire-ships ready primed with death and destruction."

    — Smollett, Peregrine Pickle

    February 1, 2022

  • More information about Gurdjieff and "impressions" here - https://ggurdjieff.com/

    December 1, 2022