shark1
- any of a group of elongate elasmobranch, mostly marine fishes, certain species of which are large, voracious, and sometimes dangerous to humans.
- jump the shark, Informal. to begin a decline in quality, popularity, relevance, etc., after reaching a peak: Some TV shows have jumped the shark once a popular cast member left the show.
Origin of shark1
shark2
- a person who preys greedily on others, as by cheating or usury.
- Informal. a person who has unusual ability in a particular field.
- Archaic. to obtain by trickery or fraud; steal.
- Archaic. to live by shifts and stratagems.
Origin of shark2
Related Words
ingenioussensiblepenetratingwiseslykeenfarsightedslickjudiciousperceptivecageyastutecannysharpprudentprobingcraftysmartwilyconnoisseurExamples from the Web for shark
Contemporary Examples
Porter was convicted and shortly after sentenced to death by a judge who compared him to a shark in a feeding frenzy.
Her downfall came about, because for a second she forgot that to swim in the shark pool, you have to always act like a shark.
For humans, Shark Week is just a once-a-year sweeps event for the Discovery Channel.
However, for sharks—and Tracy Jordan—every week is Shark Week.
Though it appears convincing, the “evidence” presented in these Shark Week documentaries is not real.
Historical Examples
This shark, I was told, had kept company with me as long as I had been in sight from the schooner.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
The gentleman purchased the shark for a museum in Fleetwood.
Adventures and RecollectionsBill o'th' Hoylus End
The shark had apparently been harpooned at sea, and washed into the Humber.
Adventures and RecollectionsBill o'th' Hoylus End
Hey was down in the hold, having left me to take care of the shark.
Adventures and RecollectionsBill o'th' Hoylus End
This makes me think that he must have been a shark, and not a whale, as the others assumed.
The Last VoyageLady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey
shark1
- any of various usually ferocious selachian fishes, typically marine with a long body, two dorsal fins, rows of sharp teeth, and between five and seven gill slits on each side of the head
Word Origin
shark2
- a person who preys on or victimizes others, esp by swindling or extortion
- archaic to obtain (something) by cheating or deception
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for shark
n.
1560s, of uncertain origin; apparently the word and the first specimen were brought to London by Capt. John Hawkins's second expedition (landed 1565; see Hakluyt).
There is no proper name for it that I knowe, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a 'sharke' [handbill advertising an exhibition of the specimen, 1569]
The meaning "dishonest person who preys on others," though attested only from 1599 (sharker "artful swindler" in this sense is from 1594), may be the original sense, later transferred to the large, voracious marine fish. If so, it is possibly from German Schorck, a variant of Schurke "scoundrel, villain," agent noun of Middle High German schürgen (German schüren) "to poke, stir."
But on another theory, the English word is from a Mayan word, xoc, which might have meant "shark." Northern Europeans seem not to have been familiar with sharks before voyages to the tropics began. A slightly earlier name for it in English was tiburon, via Spanish (where it is attested by 1520s), from the Carib name for the fish.
The English word was applied (or re-applied) to voracious or predatory persons, on the image of the fish, from 1707 (originally of pick-pockets); loan shark is attested from 1905. Sharkskin (1851) was used for binding books, etc. As the name of a type of fabric held to resemble it, it is recorded from 1932.
There is the ordinary Brown Shark, or sea attorney, so called by sailors; a grasping, rapacious varlet, that in spite of the hard knocks received from it, often snapped viciously at our steering oar. [Herman Melville, "Mardi"]