dogfish

[ dawg-fish, dog- ]

/ ˈdɔgˌfɪʃ, ˈdɒg- /

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

any of several small sharks, especially of the genera Mustelus and Squalus, that are destructive to food fishes.

any of various other fishes, as the bowfin.

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Origin of dogfish

1425–75; earlier dokefyche; late Middle English. See dog, fish

Words nearby dogfish

dog-eat-dog, dog-end, dogface, dog fennel, dogfight, dogfish, dog flea, dog fouling, dog fox, dogged, doggedly

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dogfish in a sentence

I wouldn't undertake to trot a dogfish on my knee or sing him to sleep with a pennyr'yal hymn, Captain Candage.
Blow The Man Down|Holman Day
They wuz sorted in th' big river but the drive was fouled in the Dogfish.
Connie Morgan in the Lumber Camps|James B. Hendryx
Then the bag was put around 194 the seine to protect the rest of the mackerel from dogfish and sharks, and we were ready to dress.
The Seiners|James B. (James Brendan) Connolly
Then he spoke likewise to the dogfish, and the dogfish sang of slaughter and the chase, and the joy of blood.
The Divine Adventure etc. (Works vol. 4)|Fiona Macleod

Whereupon the herring, the mackerel, and the dogfish swam forward, and each claimed to be king.
The Divine Adventure etc. (Works vol. 4)|Fiona Macleod

British Dictionary definitions for dogfish

dogfish

/ (ˈdɒɡˌfɪʃ) /

noun plural -fish or -fishes

any of several small spotted European sharks, esp Scyliorhinus caniculus (lesser spotted dogfish): family Scyliorhinidae

any small shark of the family Squalidae, esp Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish), typically having a spine on each dorsal fin

any small smooth-skinned shark of the family Triakidae, esp Mustelus canis (smooth dogfish or smooth hound)

a less common name for the bowfin

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