lamprey

[ lam-pree ]

/ ˈlæm pri /

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noun, plural lam·preys.

any eellike marine or freshwater fish of the order Petromyzoniformes, having a circular, suctorial mouth with horny teeth for boring into the flesh of other fishes to feed on their blood.

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Also called lamprey eel, lamper eel.

Origin of lamprey

1250–1300; Middle English lampreye<Anglo-French *lampreie (Old French lamproie) <Late Latin lamprēda; replacing Old English lamprede<Medieval Latin lampreda

Words nearby lamprey

lamplight, lamplighter, lamp oil, lampoon, lamppost, lamprey, lamprophony, lamprophyre, lampshade, lamp shell, lamp standard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use lamprey in a sentence

Margaret Docker, an expert on lamprey biology and genetics at the University of Manitoba, calls the findings “very exciting.”
These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory|Philip Kiefer|March 11, 2021|Popular-Science
It’s not clear why lampreys would have left the rich coastal water in the first place.
These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory|Philip Kiefer|March 11, 2021|Popular-Science
Biologists had called the lamprey-as-ancestor theory into question before, but the problem rested on the sparse fossil record of lampreys.
These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory|Philip Kiefer|March 11, 2021|Popular-Science
It’s probably not a possibility you’d considered until now, but for more than a hundred years, evolutionary biologists suspected that the lamprey, a jawless, eel-shaped, blood-sucking fish, was the closest living model of the very first vertebrates.
These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory|Philip Kiefer|March 11, 2021|Popular-Science

Of particular interest is the fact that lampreys can regrow their spinal cord, a trait which could be life changing if humans came from the same root.
These fossilized lamprey hatchlings disprove an age-old evolutionary theory|Philip Kiefer|March 11, 2021|Popular-Science
A human lamprey, sticking himself always at the thin and meager board of the poor, a vile parasite, but holy!
The Adventures of Kathlyn|Harold MacGrath
But the lamprey has no trace of arm or leg, not even a bone or cartilage hidden under the skin.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various
And its ancestors never had any limbs at all, for the earliest lamprey embryo shows no traces of them.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various
The lamprey is not a fish at all, only a wicked imitation of one which can deceive nobody.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various
Anything from a dead lamprey or a bunch of sunfish eggs to a piece of tomato can is grateful to him.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various

British Dictionary definitions for lamprey

lamprey

/ (ˈlæmprɪ) /

noun

any eel-like cyclostome vertebrate of the family Petromyzonidae, having a round sucking mouth for clinging to and feeding on the blood of other animalsAlso called: lamper eel See also sea lamprey

Word Origin for lamprey

C13: from Old French lamproie, from Late Latin lamprēda; origin obscure

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