SHARK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shark mean? 

• SHARK (noun)
  The noun SHARK has 3 senses:

1. any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales

2. a person who is ruthless and greedy and dishonest

3. a person who is unusually skilled in certain ways

  Familiarity information: SHARK used as a noun is uncommon.

• SHARK (verb)
  The verb SHARK has 2 senses:

1. play the shark; act with trickery

2. hunt shark

  Familiarity information: SHARK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHARK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("shark" is a kind of...):

elasmobranch; selachian (any of numerous fishes of the class Chondrichthyes characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton and placoid scales: sharks; rays; skates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shark"):

cow shark; Hexanchus griseus; six-gilled shark (large primitive shark widely distributed in warm seas)

mackerel shark (fierce pelagic and oceanic sharks)

Alopius vulpinus; fox shark; thrasher; thresher; thresher shark (large pelagic shark of warm seas with a whiplike tail used to round up small fish on which to feed)

carpet shark; Orectolobus barbatus (shark of the western Pacific with flattened body and mottled skin)

Ginglymostoma cirratum; nurse shark (small bottom-dwelling shark of warm shallow waters on both coasts of North America and South America and from southeast Asia to Australia)

Carcharias taurus; Odontaspis taurus; sand shark; sand tiger (shallow-water shark with sharp jagged teeth found on both sides of Atlantic; sometimes dangerous to swimmers)

Rhincodon typus; whale shark (large spotted shark of warm surface waters worldwide; resembles a whale and feeds chiefly on plankton)

cat shark (small bottom-dwelling sharks with cat-like eyes; found along continental slopes)

requiem shark (any of numerous sharks from small relatively harmless bottom-dwellers to large dangerous oceanic and coastal species)

dogfish (any of several small sharks)

hammerhead; hammerhead shark (medium-sized live-bearing shark with eyes at either end of a flattened hammer-shaped head; worldwide in warm waters; can be dangerous)

angel shark; angelfish; monkfish; Squatina squatina (sharks with broad flat bodies and winglike pectoral fins but that swim the way sharks do)

Derivation:

shark (hunt shark)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who is ruthless and greedy and dishonest

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("shark" is a kind of...):

offender; wrongdoer (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shark"):

loan shark; moneylender; shylock; usurer (someone who lends money at excessive rates of interest)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person who is unusually skilled in certain ways

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

a card shark

Hypernyms ("shark" is a kind of...):

expert (a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully)

• SHARK (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Play the shark; act with trickery

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shark" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel (engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hunt shark

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "shark" is one way to...):

fish (catch or try to catch fish or shellfish)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

In the summer they like to go out and shark

Derivation:

shark (any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales)

 Context examples 

You have called me snake, tiger, shark, monster, and Caliban.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A substance made from shark cartilage that is being studied for its ability to prevent the growth of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow.

(AE-941, NCI Dictionary)

Ah, he looked a shark, he did!

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Oh, no! shark is only one syllable.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Marine scientists of FIU are conducting research to assess how climate disturbances and the reduction of shark populations — a quarter of all shark species are threatened with extinction — change the oceans.

(Sharks, the seagrass protectors, National Science Foundation)

The specimen causing researchers to rethink the body plans of early sharks is known as Gladbachus.

(Ancient sharks likely more diverse than previously thought, National Science Foundation)

The oil extracted from fish such as cod, salmon, and shark.

(Fish Liver Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

"I've hearn sailors talk of sharks followin' a ship," Bill remarked, as he crawled back into the blankets after one such replenishing of the fire.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But lawyers, sharks, and leeches, are not easily satisfied, you know!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Yes, he added, as her ladyship broke in with a voluble protest, many and many as good a man who has gone to the sharks or the land-crabs.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)