gurnard

American  

[gur-nerd] / ˈgɜr nərd /

noun

• gurnard,
  plural
• gurnards
  plural

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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gurnard British  

/ ˈɡɜːnəd, ˈɡɜːnɪt /

noun

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gurnard
  plural
• gurnards
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gurnard

1275–1325; Middle English < Old French gornard, probably literally, grunter ≪ Latin grunnīre to grunt

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gurnard gurnards

John Dory, red mullet, gurnard, sardines, anchovies, cuttlefish and squid would all become more common in the North Sea, he said.

From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2015

A small Turner watercolour of a gurnard took my breath away: there's almost nothing there on the scrap of paper, yet it's a miraculous invocation of the stolid little fish.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 22, 2013

Morrisons has also reported strong sales of fish sourced from Cornwall and Devon, including John Dory, red gurnard and dab.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 1, 2012

They spoke of a salmon or a gurnard as chined, a sole as loined, a haddock as sided, an eel as trousoned, a pike as splatted, and a trout as gobbeted.

From Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine by William Carew Hazlitt

Also, on our coasts the father-lasher or sea-scorpion, Cottus scorpius, and in some parts the grey gurnard, are so called.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher

If you are buying gurnards and don't want anchovies, the huckster next door, who is selling the latter, at once exclaims, "That is a man, whose kitchen savours of tyranny!"

From The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2 by Aristophanes

Why, there was a big turbot, and a sole or two, and a great skate with a prickly back, and gurnards and dog-fish.”

From Menhardoc by C.J. Staniland

In Tank 34 are gurnards, fish-gentlemen, with exquisite blue fins, like peacock's feathers.

From Brothers of Pity and Other Tales of Beasts and Men by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing

The gem-like colours of the male dragonet, the butterfly wings of certain gurnards, and the decorated tails of some exotic carps all point in the same direction.

From Charles Darwin by Grant Allen

When caught and taken out of the water, gurnards emit a grunting noise, which is produced by the vibrations of a diaphragm situated transversely across the cavity of the bladder and perforated in the centre.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various