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gurnard

[gur-nerd]
noun, plural (especially collectively) gur·nard, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) gur·nards.
  1. any marine fish of the family Triglidae, having an armored, spiny head and the front part of the pectoral fins modified for crawling on the sea bottom.
  2. flying gurnard.
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Origin of gurnard

1275–1325; Middle English < Old French gornard, probably literally, grunter ≪ Latin grunnīre to grunt
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gurnard

Historical Examples

  • A peculiar boat of the Orcades; also the Erse for a gurnard.

    The Sailor's Word-Book

    William Henry Smyth

  • They lie above the limestone at Gurnard, Thorness, and Hamstead.

  • Mackerel is what you hope for; gurnard you will put up with; pollack will not be caught in any numbers so far from the shore.

  • In December therefore and January we commonly abound in herring and red fish, as rochet and gurnard.

    Elizabethan England

    William Harrison

  • Vaterland; Fa′ther-lash′er, a name applied to two bull-heads found on the British coasts, belonging to the Gurnard family.

British Dictionary definitions for gurnard

gurnard

gurnet (ˈɡɜːnɪt)

noun plural -nard, -nards, -net or -nets
  1. any European marine scorpaenoid fish of the family Triglidae, such as Trigla lucerna (tub or yellow gurnard), having a heavily armoured head and finger-like pectoral fins
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French gornard grunter, from grognier to grunt, from Latin grunnīre
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

Word Origin and History for gurnard

n.

small marine fish, early 14c., from Old French gournart (13c.), formed by metathesis of gronir, from Latin grunire "to grunt." The fish so called for the sound it makes when pulled from the water.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper