remora

[ rem-er-uh ]

noun
  1. any of several fishes of the family Echeneididae, having on the top of the head a sucking disk by which they can attach themselves to sharks, turtles, ships, and other moving objects.

  2. Archaic. an obstacle, hindrance, or obstruction.

Origin of remora

1
1560–70; <Latin: literally, delay, hindrance, derivative of remorārī to linger, delay, equivalent to re-re- + morārī to delay

Words Nearby remora

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use remora in a sentence

  • The strain on the remora, however, was so demoralizing to its physical economy that I was fain to kill it.

    Favorite Fish and Fishing | James Alexander Henshall
  • There they were in a moment, among the old knights whom, if you remember, the remora had frozen into stone.

    Prince Prigio | Andrew Lang

British Dictionary definitions for remora

remora

/ (ˈrɛmərə) /


noun
  1. any of the marine spiny-finned fishes constituting the family Echeneidae . They have a flattened elongated body and attach themselves to larger fish, rocks, etc, by a sucking disc on the top of the head

Origin of remora

1
C16: from Latin, from re- + mora delay; an allusion to its alleged habit of delaying ships

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