grilse

American

[grils] / grɪls /

noun

a young Atlantic salmon as it returns from the sea to fresh water for the first time.

grilse British

/ ɡrɪls /

noun

a young salmon that returns to fresh water after one winter in the sea

"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 Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

Etymology

Origin of grilse

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English grills, grilles (plural); further origin unknown

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.

Many of them returned in 1959 to give large runs of grilse to the native stream.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Fishermen remarked on the extreme scarcity of grilse — the youngest group of returning fish.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

At the sampling trap in the estuary of the Miramichi the count of grilse was only a fourth as large in 1959 as the year before.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

A grilse loves to rise at a middling gaudy fly after leaving the sea.

From Blacker's Art of Fly Making, &c. Comprising Angling, & Dyeing of Colours, with Engravings of Salmon & Trout Flies by Blacker, William

No. 9 hook, or small grilse size for large trout.

From Blacker's Art of Fly Making, &c. Comprising Angling, & Dyeing of Colours, with Engravings of Salmon & Trout Flies by Blacker, William

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023