flying fish

American  

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. Astronomy. Flying Fish, the constellation Volans.

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flying fish British  

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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Etymology

Origin of flying fish

First recorded in 1505–15

Example Sentences

Plus, stocks jump and oil plunges on the cease-fire news, and Mississippi boaters are losing the fight against flying fish.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

When writing about nature — the moonlight on the water, the vicious storms, the silvery flying fish she watches with rapt amazement — Heywood is at her best.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 19, 2023

In the darkness, the wind picked up and flying fish jumped into their dinghy, according to Mr. Rodriguez’s account.

From New York Times • Mar. 30, 2023

It was a streamlined, futuristic vehicle with three wheels, a periscope, and an ovoid body that reminded observers of a tadpole or a flying fish.

From Slate • Aug. 2, 2022

In the distance now and then I would see dolphins; closer in, flying fish; and still closer, at the stern, sharks waiting for the daily garbage from the galley.

From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen