an elongated, marine, gadid food fish, Molva molva, of Greenland and northern Europe.
the burbot.
any of various other elongated food fishes.
derogatory a person or thing belonging to or associated with the group, activity, or quality specified
nestling
underling
used as a diminutive
duckling
any of several gadoid food fishes of the northern coastal genus Molva, esp M. molva, having an elongated body with long fins
another name for burbot
What does -ling mean? The suffix -ling has two distinct senses. The first of these senses is to form nouns meaning “one concerned with” and/or "little." This form of -ling is occasionally used in a variety of everyday terms. It is sometimes used to be pejorative or insulting. The suffix -ling comes from Old English, in which it was used to create nouns meaning "one concerned with."The second of these senses is to form adverbs describing direction, position, or state of being. This form of -ling is very rarely used in a variety of obscure terms. The suffix -ling in this sense comes from Old English -ling, in which it was used to indicate direction.
1250–1300; Middle English ling, lenge; cognate with Dutch leng; akin to long 1, Old Norse langa
1325–75; Middle English lyng < Old Norse lyng
Middle English, Old English; cognate with German -ling, Old Norse -lingr, Gothic -lings; see -le, -ing 1
Middle English, Old English; adv. use of gradational variant lang long 1
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A misshapen, pocked rectangle of line-caught ling cod carried a wafting fishy scent, its surface over-salted and cooked hard, the interior flesh chewing into little fibers, the plating indifferent, the accompaniments misguided.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
Chef Eric Rivera loves using it to coat “lean and thin fish like petrale sole, or thin sliced fish like a ling cod or halibut,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
Offshore is good for dolphin, red snapper ling, kingfish and tuna.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 23, 2017
They fished for cod and ling from open boats voyaging out into the perilous Atlantic for nights at sea.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 28, 2017
Beyond it were slopes covered with sombre trees like dark clouds, but all about them lay a tumbled heathland, grown with ling and broom and cornel, and other shrubs that they did not know.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
There are suffixed elements corresponding to -er and -ling.
From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward
Footnote 69: The Nootka diminutive is doubtless more of a feeling-element, an element of nuance, than our -ling.
From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward
The element -ling is not so freely used, but its significance is obvious.
From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward
In the same way the -ling of duckling defines a specific relation of attribution that concerns only the radical element, not the sentence.
From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward
In a style-conscious country, Citroen produces some of the ugliest duck lings in the auto world -and sometimes leaves them unchanged for 20 years or more.
From Time Magazine Archive
"There was a tree with my brother's face. The wild- lings . . . there were thousands, more than I ever knew existed. And giants riding mammoths."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Davos saw the looks that passed between the lord- lings as he rode past them to join the king.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Bathsheba moved on to hide the irrepressible dimp- lings of merriment.
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy, Thomas
Their commodities were greene fish, and Island lings, and stockfish, and a fish which is called Scatefish: of all which they had great store.
From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I. by Hakluyt, Richard
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.
