herring
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)herrings
- valuable flesh of fatty fish from shallow waters of northern Atlantic or Pacific; usually salted or pickledType of saltwater fishKinds pickled herring, bloater, red herring, sprat, whitebait, kipperPart of Clupea harangus, Clupea harengus
- commercially important food fish of northern waters of both Atlantic and PacificSynonyms: Clupea harangusClupea harengusType of clupeid fish, food fishKinds Pacific herring, Atlantic herringMember of Clupea, genus Clupea
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. hering, AS. hæring; akin to D. haring, G. häring, hering, OHG. haring, hering, and prob. to AS. here army, and so called because they commonly move in large numbers. Cf. Harry.
Zoology One of various species of fishes of the genus Clupea, and allied genera, esp. the common round or English herring (Clupea harengus) of the North Atlantic. Herrings move in vast schools, coming in spring to the shores of Europe and America, where they are salted and smoked in great quantities.
Herring gull Zoology, a large gull which feeds in part upon herrings; esp., Larus argentatus in America, and Larus cachinnans in England. See Gull. — Herring hog Zoology, the common porpoise. — King of the herrings. Zoology (a) The chimaera (Chimaera monstrosa) which follows the schools of herring. Called also rabbit fish in the U. K. See Chimaera. (b) The opah.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54