Word: shark Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English shark (used by Thomas Beckington in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish), of uncertain origin. Most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived shark (“scoundrel”), see below. The fish was originally called a dogfish or haye in English and Middle English. Its name in Old English is unknown, although some uses of the word hranfisċ that do not appear to carry the sense of "whale" may have been referencing it. alternative theories Some older dictionaries derived the word from Latin c(h)archarias, c(h)acharus (from Ancient Greek), but admit that "the requisite [Old French] forms intermediate between E. shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is not certain that the name [shark] was orig. applied to the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy man". Other older authorities speculated that the word might derive from Yucatec Maya xok (“fish”) (/ʃok/), as John Hawkins brought a specimen from the area where Mayan was spoken to England in the 1560s. However, the 1442 use rules out a New World origin for the word. Pronunciation: /ʃɑːk/, /ʃɑɹk/ 1. Any predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head. Labels: countable Example: The straunge fishe is in length xvij. foote and iij. foote broad, and in compas about the bodie vj. foote; and is round snowted, short headdid, hauing iij. rankes of teeth on either iawe, …. Also it hath v. gills of eache side of the head, shoing white. Ther is no proper name for it that I know, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a sharke. Example: He said he had spoken to a woman who was kayaking off Catalina Island, California, in 2008 when a shark slammed her kayak from underneath and sent her flying into the air. She then landed on the back of the shark, Collier said. "At that point the shark started to swim out to sea, so she jumped off its back," Collier said. 2. Meat of this animal, consumed as food. Labels: uncountable Example: Shark has traditionally, although in some secrecy, been a staple food in European, American and Australian food. Example: In the past, people did not like to eat shark because they thought sharks ate the bodies of dead sailors. 3. Any fish of the class Chondrichthyes, especially an extinct shark-like holocephalian. Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: Cladoselache, a well-preserved Devonian shark fossil from Ohio. Here the cartilages and some muscle tissues are preserved intact 4. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark. Labels: countable, uncountable 6. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark. Labels: countable, uncountable 7. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark. Labels: countable, uncountable 8. A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark. Labels: countable, uncountable 9. A noctuid moth of species Cucullia umbratica. Labels: countable 10. A university student who is not a fresher that has engaged in sexual activity with a fresher; usually habitually and with multiple people. Labels: UK, countable