tunny

[ tuhn-ee ]

noun,plural (especially collectively) tun·ny, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) tun·nies.Chiefly British.

tuna¹.

Origin of tunny

1520–30; by apocope <Medieval Latin tunnīna false tunny, noun use of feminine of tunnīnus like a tunny, equivalent to tunn(us) tunny (variant of Latin thynnus<Greek thýnnos) + -īnus-ine¹

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

How to use tunny in a sentence

Vermilion-finned and with eyes of bossy gold, the tunnies went by in shoals, but he heeded them not.
A House of Pomegranates | Oscar Wilde
In the manner of living of the tunnies we observe a singular knowledge of the three parts of mathematics.
The Essays of Montaigne, Complete | Michel de Montaigne
There was little weed, but yesterday and to-day the sea appeared to be full of tunnies.
The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 | Various
In this second enclosure an opening is left, through which the tunnies have to pass.
The Ocean World: | Louis Figuier
Because the Bunnies have their heads where Tunnies have their tails.
Animal Analogues | Robert Williams Wood

British Dictionary definitions for tunny

tunny

/ (ˈtʌnɪ) /

nounplural -nies or -ny

another name for tuna 1

Origin of tunny

C16: from Old French thon, from Old Provençal ton, from Latin thunnus, from Greek

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

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