gurnard
Americannoun
-
any marine fish of the family Triglidae, having an armored, spiny head and the front part of the pectoral fins modified for crawling on the sea bottom.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gurnard
1275–1325; Middle English < Old French gornard, probably literally, grunter ≪ Latin grunnīre to grunt
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
John Dory, red mullet, gurnard, sardines, anchovies, cuttlefish and squid would all become more common in the North Sea, he said.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2015
A small Turner watercolour of a gurnard took my breath away: there's almost nothing there on the scrap of paper, yet it's a miraculous invocation of the stolid little fish.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 22, 2013
Morrisons has also reported strong sales of fish sourced from Cornwall and Devon, including John Dory, red gurnard and dab.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 1, 2012
Pengurn is the ancient Cornu-British name for these fishes, and signifies hard head; and its English translation is now sometimes given to the grey gurnard.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 547, May 19, 1832 by Various
Also, on our coasts the father-lasher or sea-scorpion, Cottus scorpius, and in some parts the grey gurnard, are so called.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir
In Tank 34 are gurnards, fish-gentlemen, with exquisite blue fins, like peacock's feathers.
From Brothers of Pity and Other Tales of Beasts and Men by Ewing, Juliana Horatia Gatty
These were either flying gurnards or kitelike sea robins, whose lips glowed in the dark, at night scrawling fiery streaks in the air before plunging into the murky waters like so many shooting stars.
From Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Walter, F. P.
Although never found very far from the coast, gurnards descend to depths of several hundred fathoms; and as they are bottom-fish they are caught chiefly by means of the trawl.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various
When caught and taken out of the water, gurnards emit a grunting noise, which is produced by the vibrations of a diaphragm situated transversely across the cavity of the bladder and perforated in the centre.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various
We saw, during our visit, a quantity of dried salmon, rock cod, blue dolphins, mackerel, blackfish, skate, conger eels, elephantfish, mullets, soles, parrotfish, leather-jackets, gurnards, hake, flounders, paracutas, and innumerable other varieties.
From The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3 by Poe, Edgar Allan
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.
