dace

[deys]

noun, plural (especially collectively) dace, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) dac·es.

a small, freshwater cyprinoid fish, Leuciscus leuciscus, of Europe, having a stout, fusiform body.

any of several similar or related fishes of the U.S.

Origin of dace

1400–50; late Middle English darce, darse < Old French dars < Late Latin darsus

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

Examples from the Web for dace

Historical Examples of dace

The dace is another fish which gives sport to the fly-fisherman.
Amateur Fish Culture
Charles Edward Walker
No; I have caught three trout with the fly, and I don't count the dace.
Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children
W. Houghton
And the dace is deserving of respect because it will honestly take the fly.
Lines in Pleasant Places
William Senior
So long as the dace were rising all the pike in the river could not tempt me to accompany them.
Lines in Pleasant Places
William Senior
I should be the most ungrateful of anglers if I did not acknowledge my indebtedness to the dace.
Lines in Pleasant Places
William Senior

British Dictionary definitions for dace

dace

noun plural dace or daces

a European freshwater cyprinid fish, Leuciscus leuciscus, with a slender bluish-green body

any of various similar fishes

Word Origin for dace

C15: from Old French dars dart, probably referring to its swiftness

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

Word Origin and History for dace

small, freshwater fish, early 15c., from Old French darz, nominative or plural of dart "dart" (see dart). So called for its movements. Another theory traces it to a Medieval Latin darsus, said to be of Gaulish origin.