gar
1 Americannoun
-
gar,
plural
-
gars
plural
-
Also called garfish, garpike. any predaceous freshwater fish of the genus Lepisosteus, of North America, covered with hard, diamond-shaped scales and having long jaws with needlelike teeth.
verb (used with object)
-
Scot. to compel or force (someone) to do something.
-
Scot. and North England Obsolete. to do, perform, or cause.
abbreviation
abbreviation
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gar1
1755–65, shortened form of garfish
Origin of gar2
1250–1300; Middle English geren, garren, gairen < Old Norse gera to do, make; akin to Old English gearwian to prepare
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The lubricating proteins were abundant in the fish’s jaws and in the fins of zebra fish, gar, and sticklebacks, the scientists reported.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 25, 2024
We grab our soap and wade out into the river’s side channel for a wash-up and dip before breakfast, hoping a gar doesn’t rub up against our legs with its jagged teeth and prehistoric scales.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
Government officials told local media that the gar could be hiding in an approximately 200-yard-long U-shaped pipeline leading to the lake.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 25, 2022
He also said voters had responded positively to his party's plans to cut VAT using the proceeds from a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gar companies.
From BBC ● May 6, 2022
There were eels, gar, carp, river carpsuckers, gizzard shad, and buffalo.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
![]()
"Hola, mon gar.," said Aylward, seating himself upon a boulder by his side.
From The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"It is like enough, mon gar., as things go."
From The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
About 250 arts professionals attended the symposium, presented in the G.A.R.
From Chicago Tribune ● Jun. 8, 2011
Originally a bewhiskered mimic of old hicks, he was famed for his earthy, hayseed wit, his tearful portrayal of a G.A.R. veteran scuffling down the road to the poorhouse.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Hanging in the wreckage of his plane off Plymouth Beach in 1912, he saw help coming: two old codgers in G.A.R. uniforms in a rowboat.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Potentially, they are a pressure group which can make the G.A.R. and American Legion look like Youth Day at City Hall.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
“Well, why don’t we write to the G.A.R. and ask? Someone there might know.”
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
![]()
Prehistoric-looking fish called gars, which have the slowest rate of molecular evolution of all jawed vertebrates, are the most striking examples.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 8, 2024
“Economically, of course, it’s not worth it. Are we going to drain every lake when we spot gars there?” he said.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 25, 2022
I always loved the huge alligator snapping turtle, watch your hands, but the huge gars, alligator gars and catfish are gone forever.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2018
The gars, a family of fish with long bodies, extended jaws, sharp teeth, and hard scales, has been on the planet for at least 100 million years.
From The Verge ● Dec. 20, 2015
Some of the beg gars look too young to have even taken the Trial.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
![]()
"There was a lad was born in Kyle," juist nearhand garred Sandy jump aff his seat.
From My Man Sandy by J. B. Salmond
"What garred ye think it was me—I never spak till ye afore?" asked Annie, as they walked on together.
From Alec Forbes of Howglen by George MacDonald
The haivers o' the two spooney craturs juist garred me feel like's I'd taen a fizzy drink or something.
From My Man Sandy by J. B. Salmond
"God, Doctor," replied the vile Whig, "he garred kings ken they had a lith in their necks."
From Goldsmith English Men of Letters Series by William Black
Now Skipper frien', come tell me true What garred ye mount the ribbon blue?
From A Golfing Idyll or The Skipper's Round with the Deil On the Links of St. Andrews by Violet Flint
The deil's in you, Monkbarns, for garring odds and evens meet.
From The Antiquary — Volume 02 by Sir Walter Scott
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.