dogfish

[ dawg-fish, dog- ]

/ ˈdɔgˌfɪʃ, ˈdɒg- /

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.

Words nearby dogfish

dogdom, doge, dogey, dogface, dogfight, dogfish, dogged, dogger, dogger bank, doggerel, doggery

Origin of dogfish

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for dogfish

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
The tail vertebrae of the dogfish have this typical arrangement, the trunk vertebrae have the haemal arches modified.
The Vertebrate Skeleton|Sidney H. Reynolds
We're gettin' clost to Dogfish Spur now, an' the camp's twenty-seven mile off'n the railroad.
Connie Morgan in the Lumber Camps|James B. Hendryx
And we hadn't more'n got our lines over the side than we struck into a school of dogfish.
Cape Cod Stories|Joseph C. Lincoln

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

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