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flying fish

noun
  1. any fish of the family Exocoetidae, having stiff and greatly enlarged pectoral fins enabling it to glide considerable distances through the air after leaping from the water.
  2. (initial capital letters) Astronomy. the constellation Volans.
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Origin of flying fish

First recorded in 1505–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for flying fish

Historical Examples of flying fish

  • They were not so large as the California flying-fish, nor did they have any blue color.

    Tales of Fishes

    Zane Grey

  • We worked around him awhile, but he would not take a barracuda or a flying-fish.

  • We circled him and drew the flying-fish bait so that he would swim near it.

  • To see these flying-fish this way was provocative of thought.

  • He had swallowed the flying-fish bait and had followed us for the teasers.

British Dictionary definitions for flying fish

flying fish

noun
  1. any marine teleost fish of the family Exocoetidae, common in warm and tropical seas, having enlarged winglike pectoral fins used for gliding above the surface of the water
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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