spear phish

[ speer-fish ]

verb (used without object)
  1. to phish by sending personalized email that appears to be from someone the recipient knows but which is really luring the recipient to open a malicious website: How can we make it harder for them to spear phish?

verb (used with object)
  1. to make (someone) a victim in this way: My name was being used to spear phish my Facebook friends.

Origin of spear phish

1
First recorded in 2005–10; spear1 + phish

Other words from spear phish

  • spear phish·er, noun

Words Nearby spear phish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023