boxfish

American

[boks-fish] / ˈbɒksˌfɪʃ /

noun

trunkfish.

boxfish British

/ ˈbɒksˌfɪʃ /

noun

another name for trunkfish

"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

Inflected Forms

noun

Etymology

Origin of boxfish

First recorded in 1830–40; box ¹ + 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.

Nature has no shortage of patterns, from spots on leopards to stripes on zebras and hexagons on boxfish.

From Science Daily • Nov. 8, 2023

A sleeping boxfish draped like a noodle over a coral branch.

From Washington Post • Mar. 21, 2019

In a March 11 Science, Jake Buehler omitted the name of one of the institutions involved in a new boxfish study.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2015

Based on this, it appears as though the unbalanced, wobbly, tippy boxfish makes for a better spinning top than a car.

From Slate • Mar. 11, 2015

This remarkable swimming behavior is something that is readily observable in the tropical coral reefs these boxfish call home, and it’s something I have personally had the pleasure of watching on many occasions.

From Slate • Mar. 11, 2015

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023