Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various aquatic animals having horns or thought to have a sinister appearance, including the devil rays, the manta, and certain octopuses and squids.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In zoology, a name of various marine animals of large size or uncanny appearance.
- noun Any large cuttlefish, as an octopus or an architeuthis.
- noun Lacepedia cataphracta, a fish found in Australian waters.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A huge ray (
Manta birostris orCephaloptera vampyrus ) of the Gulf of Mexico and Southern Atlantic coasts. Several other related species take the same name. Seecephaloptera . - noun A large cephalopod, especially the very large species of Octopus and Architeuthis. See
octopus . - noun The gray whale of the Pacific coast. See
gray whale . - noun The goosefish or angler (Lophius), and other allied fishes. See
angler .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several unrelated
marine animals
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun extremely large pelagic tropical ray that feeds on plankton and small fishes; usually harmless but its size make it dangerous if harpooned
- noun bottom-living cephalopod having a soft oval body with eight long tentacles
- noun medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word devilfish.
Examples
-
With a heave and a jerk appeared the entire squid, a proper devilfish or octopus.
The Water Baby 2010
-
With a heave and a jerk appeared the entire squid, a proper devilfish or octopus.
THE WATER BABY 2010
-
They had not intended to spend the afternoon, but found themselves too fascinated to turn away from the breakers bursting upon the rocks and from the many kinds of colorful sea life starfish, crabs, mussels, sea anemones, and, once, in a rock-pool, a small devilfish that chilled their blood when it cast the hooded net of its body around the small crabs they tossed to it.
CHAPTER VI 2010
-
Born again ... out the window he can almost see the spot where the devilfish crawled in from the rocks.
Gravity's Rainbow Pynchon, Thomas 1978
-
Their emblem of the Black Kraken, which the simple thought to represent a mere giant devilfish, actually depicted this pulsing, growing, black cloud of terror.
Conan Of The Isles De Camp, L. Sprague 1968
-
More like a circular cloud of dense, black vapor it seemed, with whorls of mist escaping in tentacular wisps, than a literal devilfish.
Conan Of The Isles De Camp, L. Sprague 1968
-
Tis a black thing like a devilfish, with a fringe of tentacles around a burning eye -- '
Conan Of The Isles De Camp, L. Sprague 1968
-
A flock of devilfish shapes winged half a mile away.
Three Worlds to Conquer Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1964
-
A flock of devilfish shapes winged half a mile away.
Three Worlds To Conquer Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1964
-
Land sakes, that devilfish certainly give me a hi-mighty hug!
Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper James A. Cooper
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.