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Webster 1913 Edition
Herring
Her′ring
(hĕr′rĭng)
, Noun.
[OE.
hering
, AS. hæring
; akin to D. haring
, G. häring
, 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. 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 chimaera (
Chimaera monstrosa
) which follows the schools of herring. Called also rabbit fish
in the U. K.
See Chimaera
. (b)
The opah.
Webster 1828 Edition
Herring
HER'RING
,Noun.
Definition 2025
Herring
herring
herring
See also: Herring
English

A school of herring.
Noun
herring (plural herrings or herring)
- A type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
-
- Fish in the family Clupeidae.
- Fish similar to those in genus Clupea, many of those in the order Clupeiformes.
Derived terms
- Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus)
- Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras)
- English herring (Clupea harengus)
- herringbone
- longfin herring (Pristigasteridae)
- matjes herring
- Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii)
- red herring
- round herring
- thread herring (Opisthonema)
- wolf herring (Chirocentridae)
Translations
fish in Clupea
|
|
fish in Clupeidae
fish resembling Clupea in Clupeiformes