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bowfin

[boh-fin]

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noun

a carnivorous ganoid fish, Amia calva, found in sluggish fresh waters of eastern North America.

Origin of bowfin

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45; bow² + fin¹

Also called grindle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bowfin

Historical Examples of bowfin

Such fishes as the garpike and the bowfin have lung-like air-bladders and gulp air from the surface of the water.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
David Starr Jordan
In the bowfin (Amia calva), trematodes existed in enormous numbers.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
David Starr Jordan
Near relatives of the bowfin flourished in the Mesozoic, among them some with a forked tail, and some with a very long one.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
David Starr Jordan

British Dictionary definitions for bowfin

bowfin

noun

a primitive North American freshwater bony fish, Amia calva, with an elongated body and a very long dorsal fin: family Amiidae

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