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weakfish

American  
[week-fish] / ˈwikˌfɪʃ /

noun

  • weakfish,
    plural
  • weakfishes
    plural
  1. any food fish of the genus Cynoscion, as C. regalis, inhabiting waters along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.


weakfish British  
/ ˈwiːkˌfɪʃ /

noun

  1. any of several sciaenid sea trouts, esp Cynoscion regalis, a food and game fish of American Atlantic coastal waters

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of weakfish

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800; from Dutch weekvis (obsolete), equivalent to week “soft, weak ” + vis fish


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

For example, she said, the weakfish population has also been hurt by high levels of predation and disease in recent years.

From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2023

This overharvesting has had a devastating impact on the commercial harvest of striped bass, bluefish and weakfish over the past 22 years, with declines in harvest of 34 percent, 76 percent and 98 percent, respectively.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2021

The fishing was better there, anyway: Trump and his buddies fished all day long, hauling in fluke, weakfish, and porgies, while beachgoers admired the boat from afar.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 18, 2019

“When there’s bunker in the water, I have striped bass, weakfish and bluefish for my customers to catch,” said Capt.

From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2012

Why it is called the weakfish, I do not know, unless because when it has been out of the water its flesh softens and soon becomes unfit for food.

From Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown With a Chapter on Historic Morristown by Julia Keese Colles

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