stickleback

[ stik-uh l-bak ]

/ ˈstɪk əlˌbæk /

noun

any of the small, pugnacious, spiny-backed fishes of the family Gasterosteidae, inhabiting northern fresh waters and sea inlets, the male of which builds and guards the nest.

Nearby words

Origin of stickleback

1400–50; late Middle English stykylbak, equivalent to Old English sticol scaly + bæc back¹

Also called prickleback.

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

Examples from the Web for stickleback

What was there called the "tittlebat" is really that nest-building fish, the stickleback.
Liberty In The Nineteenth Century|Frederic May Holland
For, like almost all polygamists, your stickleback is a terrible fighter.
A Book of Natural History|Various
The stickleback floundered about the boat, pricking and snapping until he was quite out of breath.
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher|Beatrix Potter
And, as it happened, they had just pulled their last legs through the open doorway when a Stickleback Father came along.
Among the Pond People|Clara Dillingham Pierson

By the by, you haven't sent me Stickleback's jack-ass as you promised.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLII. Vol. LV. April, 1844|Various

British Dictionary definitions for stickleback

stickleback

/ (ˈstɪkəlˌbæk) /

noun

any small teleost fish of the family Gasterosteidae, such as Gasterosteus aculeatus (three-spined stickleback) of rivers and coastal regions and G. pungitius (ten-spined stickleback) confined to rivers. They have a series of spines along the back and occur in cold and temperate northern regions

Word Origin for stickleback

C15: from Old English stickel prick, sting + back 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 stickleback

stickleback

c.1400, from Old English sticel "prick, sting" (from Proto-Germanic *stik- "pierce, prick, be sharp;" see stick (v.)) + back.