spear phish

[ speer fish ]

verb (used without object)

1. to phish by sending personalized email that appears to be from someone the recipient knows but which is really luring the recipient to open a malicious website:

   How can we make it harder for them to spear phish?

verb (used with object)

1. to make (someone) a victim in this way:

   My name was being used to spear phish my Facebook friends.

Other Words From

• spear phish·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of spear phish¹

First recorded in 2005–10; spear ¹( def ) + phish ( def )