shark

views updated May 21 2018

shark1 / shärk/ • n. 1. a long-bodied chiefly marine fish (subclass Elasmobranchii) with a cartilaginous skeleton, a prominent dorsal fin, and toothlike scales. Most sharks are predatory, although the largest kinds feed on plankton. 2. a small Southeast Asian freshwater fish of the minnow family with a sharklike tail, popular in aquariums. shark2 • n. inf. 1. a person who unscrupulously exploits or swindles others: Coleby was a shark, not the sort of man to pay more when he could pay less | property sharks want to develop 200 acres around the site. See also loan shark.2. an expert in a specified field: a pool shark.

shark

views updated Jun 27 2018

shark Torpedo-shaped, cartilaginous fish found in subpolar to tropical marine waters. They have well-developed jaws, bony teeth, usually five gill slits on each side of the head, and a characteristic, lobe-shaped tail with a longer top lobe. Sharks are carnivorous, and at least ten species are known to attack humans. There are c.250 living species. Order Selachii. See also dogfish; hammerhead; whale shark; white shark

http://www.sharktrust.org

shark

views updated May 21 2018

shark a type for predatory behaviour; the image of the great white shark typifying particular ferocity was established in the public mind by the film Jaws (1975).
jump the shark (of a television series) reach a point when the inclusion of far-fetched events for the sake of novelty marks a decline. The origin is said to be an episode in the long-running US television series Happy Days, in which the central character (the Fonz) jumped over a shark when waterskiing.

shark

views updated Jun 08 2018

shark large voracious seafish XVI; rapacious or extortionate person XVIII. of unkn. orig.