First recorded in 1605–15; origin uncertain
First recorded in 1965–70
A squid is a sea creature that's similar to an octopus but has ten arms instead of eight—including two extra tentacles they use for grabbing their prey. The largest squid ever found was nearly 60 feet long! Like their octopus relatives, squid are cephalopods, or mollusks with prominent heads and many arms. Squid can swim extremely fast by sucking in water and propelling it out (just like jet propulsion), and their skin can change color so they blend in with their surroundings. Squid squirt a kind of dark ink to confuse predators; some language experts believe that squid was once sailors' slang for squirt.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Blue sharks can reach more than three metres in length and feed in open water on fish, squid, smaller sharks and sea birds.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The imagery in “Minions & Monsters” can be ingenious, like the galumphing tentacles on an oversize squid or the close-up shot that goes inside a director’s megaphone to see his tongue waggling at the screen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Overall, the study identified 226 species spanning 11 major animal groups, including squid, marine mammals, cnidarians, echinoderms, and unusual deep-sea fish.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
For decades, palaeontologists believed that the largest ocean predators were vertebrates with backbones such as fish and reptiles while invertebrates like octopuses and squid played supporting roles.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, Ron — nor, thankfully, the giant squid.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
At its core lies a sensitive magnetometer, known as a SQUID.
From Economist ● Jan. 11, 2018
That would create a magnetic field large enough to spot with a SQUID.
From Economist ● Jan. 26, 2017
What is used is a sensor called a SQUID, for superconducting quantum interference device.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
The squids lose their transparent bodies as they get older, and dying adults have been recorded before by fishermen, but a colossal squid hadn’t before been seen alive at such a depth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025
The Natural History Museum has suggested it is hard to estimate the global population of colossal squids.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2025
They encountered an immense flurry of different salps that were doing their nightly migration to the surface -- and many photobombing sharks, squids and crustaceans, Sutherland noted.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024
It’s possible the creatures were giant squids, or pinnipeds, like seals or sea lions.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 28, 2023
He used it to haul squids and he liked a fresh breeze to blow in his face.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
