dogfish

[ dawg-fish, dog- ]

noun,plural (especially collectively) dog·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) dog·fish·es.
  1. any of several small sharks, especially of the genera Mustelus and Squalus, that are destructive to food fishes.

  2. any of various other fishes, such as the bowfin.

Origin of dogfish

1
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; dog + fish
  • Also called sea dog [see-dawg, dog] /ˈsi ˌdɔg, ˌdɒg/ .

Words Nearby dogfish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use dogfish in a sentence

  • I wouldn't undertake to trot a dogfish on my knee or sing him to sleep with a pennyr'yal hymn, Captain Candage.

    Blow The Man Down | Holman Day
  • They wuz sorted in th' big river but the drive was fouled in the dogfish.

  • Then the bag was put around 194 the seine to protect the rest of the mackerel from dogfish and sharks, and we were ready to dress.

    The Seiners | James B. (James Brendan) Connolly
  • Then he spoke likewise to the dogfish, and the dogfish sang of slaughter and the chase, and the joy of blood.

  • Whereupon the herring, the mackerel, and the dogfish swam forward, and each claimed to be king.

British Dictionary definitions for dogfish

dogfish

/ (ˈdɒɡˌfɪʃ) /


nounplural -fish or -fishes
  1. any of several small spotted European sharks, esp Scyliorhinus caniculus (lesser spotted dogfish): family Scyliorhinidae

  2. any small shark of the family Squalidae, esp Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish), typically having a spine on each dorsal fin

  1. any small smooth-skinned shark of the family Triakidae, esp Mustelus canis (smooth dogfish or smooth hound)

  2. a less common name for the bowfin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012