jewfish

[ joo-fish ]

noun,plural (especially collectively) jew·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) jew·fish·es.
  1. any of several very large fishes, especially of the family Serranidae, as the giant sea bass and the groupers Epinephelus itajara and E. nigritus, found in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.

Origin of jewfish

1
1690–1700; apparently Jew + fish

Words Nearby jewfish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use jewfish in a sentence

  • Another jewfish, a tropical species (Promicrops itaiara), growing even larger than the one named, is also found in Florida waters.

    Favorite Fish and Fishing | James Alexander Henshall
  • Huge fishes like the tarpon, jewfish or tuna are sooner brought to gaff by "pumping," as it is called.

    Favorite Fish and Fishing | James Alexander Henshall
  • With his stout tools and tackle he enjoys the phenomenal leaps of the tarpon, or the leviathan struggles of the jewfish.

    Favorite Fish and Fishing | James Alexander Henshall
  • The jewfish he remembered had been calculated to tip the scales at two hundred and thirty pounds.

  • The Philippine giant sea-bass, or jewfish, belongs to the same family as does the California species.

British Dictionary definitions for jewfish

jewfish

/ (ˈdʒuːˌfɪʃ) /


nounplural -fish or -fishes
  1. any of various large dark serranid fishes, such as Mycteroperca bonaci, of warm or tropical seas

  2. Australian any of various marine sciaenid food and game fish, esp the mulloway

  1. Australian a large food fish of W Australian waters Glaucosama hebraicum

Origin of jewfish

1
C17: of uncertain origin

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