sharks

Noun

shark (countable and uncountable, plural sharks)

1. (countable) Any predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.
   • The straunge fishe is in length xvij. foote and iij. foote broad, and in compas about the bodie vj. foote; and is round snowted, short headdid, hauing iij. rankes of teeth on either iawe, …. Also it hath v. gills of eache side of the head, shoing white. Ther is no proper name for it that I know...1569, The true discripcion of this marueilous straunge Fishe, whiche was taken on Thursday was sennight, the xvi. day of June, this present month, in the yeare of our Lord God, M.D.lxix., a broadside...
2. (uncountable) Meat of this animal, consumed as food.
   • Shark has traditionally, although in some secrecy, been a staple food in European, American and Australian food.1987, John D.Stevens, editor, Sharks, New York, NY: Facts on File, →ISBN, page 195
3. (broadly) Any fish of the class Chondrichthyes, especially an extinct shark-like holocephalian.
   • Cladoselache, a well-preserved Devonian shark fossil from Ohio. Here the cartilages and some muscle tissues are preserved intact2024, John Long, The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean's Most Fearsome Predators, New York: Ballantine Books, page 17
4. Any fish in the genus Epalzeorhynchos.
5. Any fish in the genus Balantiocheilos.
6. An iridescent shark (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus).

See all 24 meanings of shark