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• loach
  loach

  noun

  any of several slender European and Asian fishes of the family Cobitidae and related families, having several barbels around the mouth.
• Loach
  Loach

  noun

  Ken ( neth ). born 1936, British television and film director; his works for television include Cathy Come Home (1966) and his films include Kes (1970), Riff-Raff (1991), Bread and Roses (2000), The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006), and The Angels' Share (2012)

loach

American  

[lohch] / loʊtʃ /

noun

1. any of several slender European and Asian fishes of the family Cobitidae and related families, having several barbels around the mouth.

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Loach ¹ British  

/ ləʊtʃ /

noun

1. Ken ( neth ). born 1936, British television and film director; his works for television include Cathy Come Home (1966) and his films include Kes (1970), Riff-Raff (1991), Bread and Roses (2000), The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006), and The Angels' Share (2012)

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loach ² British  

/ ləʊtʃ /

noun

1. any carplike freshwater cyprinoid fish of the family Cobitidae, of Eurasia and Africa, having a long narrow body with barbels around the mouth

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Etymology

Origin of loach

1325–75; Middle English loche < Middle French

Example Sentences

Fish passage has also been opened for other species recorded in the river, including the critically endangered European eel as well as grayling, trout, lamprey, minnow, stone loach, and bullhead.

From BBC • Nov. 13, 2025

After scrambling in the water for food, this coot eventually caught a loach.

From BBC • Aug. 30, 2023

Federally endangered species particularly threatened by the presence of the bovines are the “southwest willow flycatcher, narrow-headed garter snake, Gila chub, loach minnow, and Spikedace,” according to a Forest Service memo.

From Washington Times • Feb. 17, 2023

He compared his personality to that of a loach fish, a freshwater bottom feeder, and said he will “work and sweat to push down-to-earth politics.”

From BusinessWeek • Sep. 1, 2011

The loach, the minnow, and the bullhead are sure to be there, with perhaps a tiny stickleback, and somewhere, outside the bottle—stuffed in cap or breeches pocket—crayfish of every age and size.

From The Confessions of a Poacher by Anonymous