tunny

[ tuhn-ee ]

/ ˈtʌn i /

noun, plural (especially collectively) tun·ny, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) tun·nies. Chiefly British.

Nearby words

tunnel of love, tunnel vision, tunneling, tunney, tunney, gene, tunny, tuonela, tup, tupamaro, tupelo, tupi

Origin of tunny

1520–30; by apocope < Medieval Latin tunnīna false tunny, noun use of feminine of tunnīnus like a tunny, equivalent to tunn(us) tunny (variant of Latin thynnus < Greek thýnnos) + -īnus -ine¹

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

Examples from the Web for tunny

That I shall be off to my tunny fisheries, and you will remain with your scullery-maid.
The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes|Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
The Muria was the liquid in which the tunny was pickled, and no doubt very similar to our essence of anchovies.
The Modern Housewife or, Menagere|Alexis Soyer
The medals of Asido, Florez describes as having sometimes a bull, and at others a fish of the tunny kind, upon them.
Excursions in the mountains of Ronda and Granada, with characteristic sketches of the inhabitants of southern Spain, v. 2/2|Charles Rochfort Scott
Tunny, tun′i, n. a very large fish of the mackerel family (Scombrid), fished chiefly on the Mediterranean coasts.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various

More than 400 small craft are employed in the sardine, tunny, cod and other fisheries.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7|Various

British Dictionary definitions for tunny

tunny

/ (ˈtʌnɪ) /

noun plural -nies or -ny

another name for tuna 1

Word Origin for tunny

C16: from Old French thon, from Old Provençal ton, from Latin thunnus, from Greek

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 tunny

tunny

large sea-fish of the mackerel order, 1520s, probably from Middle French thon (14c.), from Old Provençal ton, from Latin thunnus "a tuna, tunny," from Greek thynnos "a tuna, tunny," possibly in the literal sense of "darter," from thynein "dart along."