eel

[ eel ]

noun,plural (especially collectively) eel, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) eels.

any of numerous elongated, snakelike marine or freshwater fishes of the order Apodes, having no ventral fins.
any of several similar but unrelated fishes, as the lamprey.

Origin of eel

before 1000; Middle English ele,Old English ēl, ǣl; cognate with Dutch aal,German Aal,Old Norse āll

Other words from eel

eellike, adjective
eely, adjective

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

How to use eel in a sentence

TSA airport inspectors have found cannonballs and eels and rocket launchers.
The TSA’s Insane Instagram Feed | Nina Strochlic | July 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It can grow like some vast underwater reef, with eels hiding in the shadows.
Nicholson Baker: How I Write | Noah Charney | September 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
In the wrestling show audience, “couples curled their pale legs together like eels.”
Great Weekend Reads | The Daily Beast | February 4, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
The engine boy having fixed the safety-valve while he fished for eels, caused an explosion of the boiler.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2) | Francis Trevithick
The water that was used to quench the fire being pumped into the river Idria, all the fish died excepting the eels.
St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 5, March, 1878 | Various

Is found underneath stones at the bottom of rivers and brooks, and also amongst gravel; it is a good bait for Trout and Eels.
The Teesdale Angler | R Lakeland
The water is alive with them, churning and threshing over one another like a pot full of eels.
Round the Wonderful World | G. E. Mitton
Clams afforded a further help, the people treading and digging the flats at low tide, while eels and crabs supplemented this.
William Bradford of Plymouth | Albert Hale Plumb

British Dictionary definitions for eel

eel

/ (iːl) /

noun

any teleost fish of the order Apodes (or Anguilliformes), such as the European freshwater species Anguilla anguilla, having a long snakelike body, a smooth slimy skin, and reduced fins
any of various other animals with a long body and smooth skin, such as the mud eel and the electric eel

an evasive or untrustworthy person

Origin of eel

Old English ǣl; related to Old Frisian ēl, Old Norse āll, Old High German āl

Derived forms of eel

eel-like, adjective
eely, adjective

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 Idioms and Phrases with eel

eel

see slippery as an eel.

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