1250–1300; Middle English < Old French, perhaps same word as Middle French maquerel pimp < Middle Dutch makelare broker (by metathesis), equivalent to makel(en) to bring together + -are -er1
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| mackerel (ˈmækrəl) | |
| —n , pl -rel, -rels | |
| 1. | Compare Spanish mackerel a spiny-finned food fish, Scomber scombrus, occurring in northern coastal regions of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean: family Scombridae. It has a deeply forked tail and a greenish-blue body marked with wavy dark bands on the back |
| 2. | any of various other fishes of the family Scombridae, such as Scomber colias (Spanish mackerel) and S. japonicus (Pacific mackerel) |
| [C13: from Anglo-French, from Old French maquerel, of unknown origin] | |
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mackerel
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mackerel
any of a number of swift-moving, streamlined food and sport fishes found in temperate and tropical seas around the world, allied to tunas in the family Scombridae (order Perciformes). Mackerels are rounded and torpedo-shaped, with a slender, keeled tail base, a forked tail, and a row of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins. They are carnivorous fishes and feed on plankton, crustaceans, mollusks, fish eggs, and small fish. They congregate in schools and swim actively in the upper 25-30 fathoms of the water in the warmer months and then descend to as deep as 100 fathoms during the winter. They spawn during the spring and early summer along coastlines. Their eggs average 1 mm (0.04 inch) in diameter, are buoyant, and drift in the uppermost five fathoms of water. Mackerels are mostly caught by nets, rather than by angling.
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