Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A globefish; a fish of the order Plectognathi and suborder Gymnodontes, as the tropical Tetraodon lineatus, or striped spine-belly, or a species of one of the genera Triodon and Diodon.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • (Zoöl.) A fish of the genus Diodon (such as Diodon holocanthus) or the genus Tetraodon, having the power of distending its body by taking air or water into its dilatable esophagus. It is similar to but smaller than the porcupinefish. See globefish, and bur fish.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fish of the genus Diodon or Tetraodon, capable of distending its body by taking air or water into its dilatable esophagus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun similar to but smaller than porcupinefish

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

balloon +‎ fish

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word balloonfish.

Examples

  • Swills swelled, balloonfish bellowed, bully Billy rebelled, yellow Mell yelled, silly Will kvelled:

    LL on a Sailbloat 2010

  • What it is: One of a family of marine or estuarine fish known as Tetraodontidae whichincludesmany familiar species variously called puffers, puffer fish, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish and toadfish.

    The Best Stuff on Earth?! 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.