xiphias

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The typical genus of Xiphiidæ, now restricted to swordfishes without teeth or ventral fins, and thus exclusive of the sailfishes and spear-fishes (Histiophorus and Tetrapturus). The dorsal fins are two, the first high and falcate, and the second very small and situated on the tail, opposite the small second anal. In younger individuals, however, teeth are present, and the two dorsals are connected, so that the banner is more like that of a sailfish. The first anal resembles the first dorsal, but is smaller and less falcate; the pectorals are moderate and falcate. The caudal keel is single; the skin is rough and naked, or in the young has rudimentary scales. X. gladius is the common swordfish, widely dispersed in both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, attaining a weight of 300 or 400 pounds, with the sword a yard long. It is dark-bluish above, dusky below, with the sword blackish on top.
2. n. In astronomy:
3. n. A constellation made by Petrus Theodori in the fifteenth century, in the south pole of the ecliptic, and now named Dorado.
4. n. [lowercase] In older authors, a sword-shaped comet.

Wiktionary

1. n. A swordfish.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A genus of fishes comprising the common swordfish.
2. n. The constellation Dorado.
3. n. A comet shaped like a sword.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. type genus of the Xiphiidae