stickleback

[ stik-uhl-bak ]

noun
  1. any of the small, pugnacious, spiny-backed fishes of the family Gasterosteidae, inhabiting northern fresh waters and sea inlets, the male of which builds and guards the nest.

Origin of stickleback

1
1400–50; late Middle English stykylbak, equivalent to Old English sticol scaly + bæcback1

Words Nearby stickleback

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How to use stickleback in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for stickleback

stickleback

/ (ˈstɪkəlˌbæk) /


noun
  1. any small teleost fish of the family Gasterosteidae, such as Gasterosteus aculeatus (three-spined stickleback) of rivers and coastal regions and G. pungitius (ten-spined stickleback) confined to rivers. They have a series of spines along the back and occur in cold and temperate northern regions

Origin of stickleback

1
C15: from Old English stickel prick, sting + back 1

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