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rainbow trout

American

noun

a trout, Salmo gairdnerii, native in the coastal waters and streams from Baja California to Alaska, used as a food and game fish.

rainbow trout British

noun

a freshwater trout of North American origin, Salmo gairdneri , having a body marked with many black spots and two longitudinal red stripes

"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

Etymology

Origin of rainbow trout

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Steelhead trout are the same species as rainbow trout, but they have different lifestyles.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2025

I had attended a Fishwife pop-up in Manhattan, where I feasted on deviled eggs with smoked rainbow trout, butter & anchovy toast, salmon seaweed snacks and caviar bumps.

From Salon • Apr. 7, 2025

Vulnerable populations of rainbow trout are also threatened by the Eaton fire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2025

This is a relatively small amount compared with international production levels, but still notable considering that rainbow trout is a new farmed species in China, unlike traditional species like carp.

From Salon • Jan. 7, 2025

How it contains thousands of lakes, filled with fish of all kinds—walleye, for one thing, catfish, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, perch, and pike.

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023