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lumpfish

[luhmp-fish]
noun, plural (especially collectively) lump·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) lump·fish·es.
  1. any of several thick-bodied, sluggish fishes of the family Cyclopteridae, found in northern seas, having the pelvic fins modified and united into a sucking disk, especially Cyclopterus lumpus, of the North Atlantic.
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Origin of lumpfish

First recorded in 1735–45; lump1 + fish
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lumpfish

Historical Examples

  • Down went the trap, an up she come: not even a lumpfish or a lobser t grace the labor.

    Every Man for Himself

    Norman Duncan

British Dictionary definitions for lumpfish

lumpfish

noun plural -fish or -fishes
  1. a North Atlantic scorpaenoid fish, Cyclopterus lumpus, having a globular body covered with tubercles, pelvic fins fused into a sucker, and an edible roe: family Cyclopteridae
  2. any other fish of the family Cyclopteridae
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Also called: lumpsucker

Word Origin

C16: lump (now obsolete) lumpfish, from Middle Dutch lumpe, perhaps related to lump 1
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