skipjack

[ skip-jak ]

/ ˈskɪpˌdʒæk /

noun, plural (especially collectively) skip·jack, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) skip·jacks for 1; skip·jacks for 2, 3.

any of various fishes that leap above the surface of the water, as a tuna, Euthynnus pelamis, or the bonito.

Entomology. click beetle.

Nautical. an American one-masted sailing vessel.

Nearby words

Origin of skipjack

First recorded in 1545–55; skip¹ + jack¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for skipjack

The Skipjack proved speedy and they made the run back to the hotel in good time, arriving there before sundown.
The Ocean Wireless Boys And The Naval Code|John Henry Goldfrap, AKA Captain Wilbur Lawton
"And comes for it like the cattle to the scrubbing-stones," said the Skipjack.
Magnum Bonum|Charlotte M. Yonge
"Yet the Skipjack seemed the most improbable one of all," said his mother.
Magnum Bonum|Charlotte M. Yonge
Fishing in heavy water, a skipjack snaps at your fly, and you jerk him out to bank with a Devil take you.
Love and Lucy|Maurice Henry Hewlett

They were chopping in several places at once now, and from the top of another tree the Skipjack gave another shout.
Back o' the Moon|Oliver Onions

British Dictionary definitions for skipjack

skipjack

/ (ˈskɪpˌdʒæk) /

noun plural -jack or -jacks

Also called: skipjack tuna an important food fish, Katsuwonus pelamis, that has a striped abdomen and occurs in all tropical seas: family Scombridae (mackerels and tunas)

black skipjack a small spotted tuna, Euthynnus yaito, of Indo-Pacific seas

any of several other unrelated fishes, such as the alewife and bonito

nautical an American sloop used for oystering and as a yacht

another name for a click beetle

Word Origin for skipjack

C18: from skip 1 + jack 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

Word Origin and History for skipjack

skipjack

1550s, "a pert shallow-brained fellow; a puppy, a whipper-snapper; a conceited fop or dandy" [OED], from skip (v.) + generic name jack (n.). Applied 1703 to tropical fishes with leaping tendencies. In reference to a kind of sailing boat used on Chesapeake Bay, attested from 1887.