Herring

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Herring \Her"ring\ (h[e^]r"r[i^]ng), n. [OE. hering, AS.
     h[ae]ring; akin to D. haring, G. h[aum]ring, hering, OHG.
     haring, hering, and prob. to AS. here army, and so called
     because they commonly move in large numbers. Cf. {Harry}.]
     (Zool.)
     One of various species of fishes of the genus {Clupea}, and


     allied genera, esp. the common round or English herring
     ({Clupea harengus}) of the North Atlantic. Herrings move in
     vast schools, coming in spring to the shores of Europe and
     America, where they are salted and smoked in great
     quantities.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Herring gull} (Zool.), a large gull which feeds in part upon
        herrings; esp., {Larus argentatus} in America, and {Larus
        cachinnans} in England. See {Gull}.
  
     {Herring hog} (Zool.), the common porpoise.
  
     {King of the herrings}. (Zool.)
     (a) The chim[ae]ra ({Chimaera monstrosa}) which follows the
         schools of herring. Called also {rabbit fish} in the U.
         K. See {Chim[ae]ra}.
     (b) The opah.
         [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  herring
       n 1: valuable flesh of fatty fish from shallow waters of northern
            Atlantic or Pacific; usually salted or pickled
       2: commercially important food fish of northern waters of both
          Atlantic and Pacific [syn: {Clupea harangus}]