sting ray

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Ray \Ray\, n. [F. raie, L. raia. Cf. Roach.] (Zool.) (a) Any one of numerous elasmobranch fishes of the order Raiae, including the skates, torpedoes, sawfishes, etc. (b) In a restricted sense, any of the broad, flat, narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See Skate. [1913 Webster]

Bishop ray, a yellow-spotted, long-tailed eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari syn. Stoasodon narinari) of the Southern United States and the West Indies; also called the spotted eagle ray and white-spotted eagle ray.

Butterfly ray, a short-tailed American sting ray (Pteroplatea Maclura), having very broad pectoral fins.

Devil ray. See Sea Devil.

Eagle ray, any large ray of the family Myliobatidae, or Aetobatidae. The common European species (Myliobatis aquila) is called also whip ray, and miller.

Electric ray, or Cramp ray, a torpedo.

Starry ray, a common European skate (Raia radiata).

Sting ray, any one of numerous species of rays of the family Trygonidae having one or more large, sharp, barbed dorsal spines on the whiplike tail. Called also stingaree. [1913 Webster]

Sting \Sting\, n. [AS. sting a sting. See Sting, v. t.]

1.(Zool.) Any sharp organ of offense and defense, especially when connected with a poison gland, and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The sting of a bee or wasp is a modified ovipositor. The caudal sting, or spine, of a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion. [1913 Webster]

2.(Bot.) A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secrets an acrid fluid, as in nettles. The points of these hairs usually break off in the wound, and the acrid fluid is pressed into it. [1913 Webster]

3.Anything that gives acute pain, bodily or mental; as, the stings of remorse; the stings of reproach. [1913 Webster]

The sting of death is sin.— 1 Cor. xv. 56.[1913 Webster]

4.The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging. "The lurking serpent's mortal sting." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5.A goad; incitement. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

6.The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying. [1913 Webster]

Sting moth (Zool.), an Australian moth (Doratifera vulnerans) whose larva is armed, at each end of the body, with four tubercles bearing powerful stinging organs.

Sting ray. (Zool.) See under 6th Ray.

Sting winkle (Zool.), a spinose marine univalve shell of the genus Murex, as the European species (Murex erinaceus). See Illust. of Murex. [1913 Webster]

Sting ray \Sting ray\ or Stingray \Sting"ray`\, n. Any one of numerous rays of the family Dasyatidae, syn. Trygonidae, having one or more large sharp barbed dorsal spines, on the whiplike tail, capable of inflicting severe wounds. Some species reach a large size, and some, esp., on the American Pacific coast, are very destructive to oysters. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]