stickleback

[ stik-uhl-bak ]

/ ˈstɪk əlˌbæk /

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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.

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Also called prickleback.

Origin of stickleback

1400–50; late Middle English stykylbak, equivalent to Old English sticol scaly + bæcback¹

Words nearby stickleback

stick insect, stick-in-the-mud, stickit, stick it to someone, stickle, stickleback, stickler, Stickler syndrome, Stickley, stickman, stick-on

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use stickleback in a sentence

Gudgeon eats stickleback, jack-pike eats gudgeon and grows fat, till at last the sturgeon in his armour eats him.
Joan of the Sword Hand|S(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett
"Canova was by no means equal to Stickleback," said Mr Bristles magisterially.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLII. Vol. LV. April, 1844|Various
When our other friends leave me, Stickleback, I hope you will stay for half an hour.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLII. Vol. LV. April, 1844|Various
The rest of the party soon retired; and Bristles and Stickleback began their confidential conclave.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLII. Vol. LV. April, 1844|Various

The Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), too, has undoubtedly come to us from the north.
The History of the European Fauna|R. F. Scharff

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