weakfish

American  

[week-fish] / ˈwikˌfɪʃ /

noun

• weakfish,
  plural
• weakfishes
  plural

1. any food fish of the genus Cynoscion, as C. regalis, inhabiting waters along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.

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weakfish British  

/ ˈwiːkˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. any of several sciaenid sea trouts, esp Cynoscion regalis, a food and game fish of American Atlantic coastal waters

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• weakfish
  plural
• weakfishes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of weakfish

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800; from Dutch weekvis (obsolete), equivalent to week “soft, weak ” + vis fish

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

weakfish

For example, she said, the weakfish population has also been hurt by high levels of predation and disease in recent years.

From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2023

Others depict dramatic action, like an 1829 painting of an osprey clutching a weakfish in its talons as it flies through the air.

From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2023

This overharvesting has had a devastating impact on the commercial harvest of striped bass, bluefish and weakfish over the past 22 years, with declines in harvest of 34 percent, 76 percent and 98 percent, respectively.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2021

The fishing was better there, anyway: Trump and his buddies fished all day long, hauling in fluke, weakfish, and porgies, while beachgoers admired the boat from afar.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 18, 2019

The weakfish were not hungry or we did not tempt them with bait to their taste that day.

From The Rise of Roscoe Paine by Lincoln, Joseph Crosby