eel
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English el (“eel”), from Old English ǣl (“eel”), from Proto-West Germanic *āl (“eel”), from Proto-Germanic *ēlaz (“eel”), which is of unknown origin.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian iel (“eel”), Dutch aal (“eel”), German Low German Aal, Ool (“eel”), German Aal (“eel”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ål (“eel”), Faroese állur, álur (“eel”), Icelandic áll (“eel”).
Inflected forms:
form: eels
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: eels
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: eeling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: eeled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: eeled
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.
pos: noun
examples: Off the United States, the National Marine Fisheries Service is helping industry explore fisheries for deep shrimp, rattails, chimeras, orange roughy, smoothheads, slackjaw eels, blue hake, skates and dogfish, which the National Fisheries Institute, an industry group, in an effort to improve their marketability, has renamed cape shark.
gloss: A European eel (Anguilla anguilla).
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:
pos: noun
gloss: Someone or something that is sneaky and/or hard to catch.
pos: noun
examples: That Dennis is a right eel, he always seems to slip away from the scene at the right time.
His expression when incredulous. "Why would you think that?" He was a slippery little eel.
Philosophers and literary critics from ancient times, along with social scientists, physicians, theologians, and biblical scholars more recently, have tried to get a tentative handle, if not a firm grasp, on this "slippery eel" of humor and laughter.
John scowled after the dog. "Never fear, my lady. I shall get the sneaky, slippery eel yet."
gloss: To fish for eels.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To move with a sinuous motion like that of an eel.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Related words: elver
Derived words: African eel
African longfin eel
African mottled eel
African spoon-nose eel
Asian swamp eel
bastard eel
conger eel
Congo eel
cusk-eel
cutthroat eel
deep-sea spiny eel
deepwater big-eyed worm eel
duckbill eel
eel basket
eel-blenny
eelblenny
eelboat
eelbuck
eeler
eelery
eelfare
eelfish
eelgrass
eelish
eellike
eel-like
Eel Pie Island
eelpot
eelpout
eel-pout
Eel River
eelskin
eelspear
eelworm
eely
electric eel
European eel
fire eel
garden eel
glass eel
green eel
gulper eel
Japanese eel
lamper eel
longfin eel
longneck eel
marbled eel
Mauritanian shortface eel
monkeyface eel
moray eel
mud eel
neck eel
pelican eel
pike eel
ramper eel
rock eel
rubber eel
sand eel
sawtooth eel
sea eel
short-finned eel
silver eel
slime eel
slippery as an eel
snake eel
snake-eel
snipe eel
snowflake eel
spaghetti eel
spiny eel
swamp eel
thin eel
two-legged eel
vinegar eel
wheat-eel
white eel
wolf eel
worm eel
Translations: