Definitions

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

  • noun A small, brightly colored, live-bearing freshwater fish (Xiphophorus hellerii) of Mexico and Central America, having a long tapering extension of the caudal fin in the male and popular in home aquariums.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A crustacean of the group Xiphosura, as the horseshoe- or king-crab. See cuts under horseshoe-crab and Limulus.
  • noun Any bug of the genus Uroxiphus, as U. caryæ, the walnut swordtail.
  • noun Same as sword-bearer .

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

  • noun The limulus.
  • noun Any hemipterous insect of the genus Uroxiphus, found upon forest trees.

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

  • noun A species of freshwater fish, Xiphophorus hellerii

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

  • noun freshwater fish of Central America having a long swordlike tail; popular aquarium fish

Etymologies

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Examples

  •  One Activision Keystone Kapers cartridge for Atari 2600, borrowed by you, claimed lost, $19.99; one baseball bat shattered in anger, without apology after humiliating strikeout, $7.99; one green swordtail fish, leapt to its death after you opened aquarium lid, chased it with net, $0.79.

    Thinly Sliced Raw Fish 2010

  • As the size and age of female swordtail fish increases, so does the preference for males with asymmetrical markings, according to a new Ohio University study.

    dustbury.com » It helps if they aren’t working for scale 2007

  • There's hope for the less-than-perfect male – if you're a swordtail fish, that is.

    Science press releases 2005

  • As the size and age of female swordtail fish increase, so does the preference for males with asymmetrical markings, according to a new Ohio University study.

    Science press releases 2005

  • My mouth opened and closed, as if I was a swordtail fish in the belly of a Spline.

    Resplendent adamosf 2006

  • My mouth opened and closed, as if I was a swordtail fish in the belly of a Spline.

    Archive 2006-12-01 adamosf 2006

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    wah! barbylon 2003

  • In male swordtail fish, black melanoma splotches help lure females, suggesting that the usually deadly melanoma gene is conserved for its beneficial role in sexual selection ...

    unknown title 2009

  • In male swordtail fish, black melanoma splotches help lure females, suggesting that the usually deadly melanoma gene is conserved for its beneficial role in sexual selection ...

    unknown title 2009

  • In male swordtail fish, black melanoma splotches help lure females, suggesting that the usually deadly melanoma gene is conserved for its beneficial role in sexual selection ...

    unknown title 2009

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