Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various marine food fishes chiefly of the genera Merluccius and Urophycis, closely related to and resembling the cods.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To fish for hake; engage in the hake-fishery: as, a haking vessel, voyage, or crew.
  • noun A hook; specifically, a pot-hook.
  • noun A kind of weapon; a pike.
  • noun plural The draft-irons of a plow.
  • noun A frame for holding cheeses.
  • noun A rack for horses or cattle to feed at.
  • noun A drying-shed in a tile-making establishment.
  • To go about idly or draggingly; loiter about.
  • To drag along idly.
  • To carry off by force; kidnap.
  • noun A lazy person who strolls about in search of what he can pick up, instead of working.
  • noun A forward, tattling woman.
  • noun A gadoid fish of the family Merluciidæ, Merlucius smiridus or vulgaris, related to and resembling a cod, found on the Atlantic coasts of Europe.
  • noun A gadoid fish of the genus Phycis, common along the Atlantic coast of North America, as P. chuss, P. tenuis, and P. regius, recognized by the reduction of the ventral fins to two or three filamentous rays.
  • noun A gadoid fish of New Zealand, Lotella rhacinus, which has flattened ventrals of 6 rays, and a short anterior and long graduated second dorsal and anal fins.

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

  • noun A drying shed, as for unburned tile.
  • noun (Zoöl.) One of several species of marine gadoid fishes, of the genera Phycis, Merlucius, and allies. The common European hake is Merlucius vulgaris; the American silver hake or whiting is Merlucius bilinearis. Two American species (Phycis chuss and Phycis tenius) are important food fishes, and are also valued for their oil and sounds. Called also squirrel hake, and codling.
  • intransitive verb Prov. Eng. To loiter; to sneak.

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

  • noun A drying shed, as for unburned tile.
  • noun One of several species of marine gadoid fishes, of the genera Phycis, Merluccius, and allies.
  • noun A hook; a pot-hook.
  • noun A kind of weapon; a pike.
  • noun (in the plural) The draught-irons of a plough.
  • verb UK, dialect To loiter; to sneak.

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

  • noun any of several marine food fishes related to cod
  • noun the lean flesh of a fish similar to cod

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, possibly from Old English haca, hook (from the shape of its lower jaw); see keg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English hake, probably a shortened form (due to Scandinavian influence) of English dialectal haked ("pike"). Compare Norwegian hakefisk ("trout, salmon"), Middle Low German haken ("kipper"). More at haked.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English *hake, from Old English hæca, haca ("hook, bolt, door-fastening, bar"), from Proto-Germanic *hakô (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook”). Cognate with Dutch haak ("hook"), German Haken ("hook"), Danish hage ("hook"), Swedish hake ("hook"), Icelandic haki ("hook"), Hittite kagas ("tooth"), Middle Irish ailchaing ("weapons rack"), Lithuanian kéngė ("hook, latch"), Russian коготь (kógot', "claw"). Related to hook.

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Examples

  • _Hake_ in Norwegian means hook, and the term hake or hook-fish was given because of the hooked character of the under-jaw.

    The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year William Beebe 1919

  • For some reason, the word hake puts me off my food, though you must be wondering why I have no problem with ling.

    planet.journals.ie 2009

  • It is central to the diet of primary and secondary carnivorous species of significant economic importance such as hake and squid.

    Patagonian Shelf large marine ecosystem 2008

  • These fisheries are centred on commercially important species such as hake, anchovy and pilchard, and the associated industries are an important source of employment.

    Biodiversity in Africa 2007

  • In the calms we occasionally caught a fish called "hake" by the Japanese cook.

    Chapter 9 1913

  • In the calms we occasionally caught a fish called "hake" by the Japanese cook.

    Chapter 9 1911

  • Although the council has already certified several B.C. fisheries, such as hake, halibut and Fraser sockeye (the latter particularly disputed by some environmental groups) as sustainably managed, the dogfish is proving trickier.

    canada.com Top Stories 2010

  • These fisheries are centred on commercially important species such as hake, anchovy and pilchard, and the associated industries are an important source of employment.

    Featured Articles - Encyclopedia of Earth 2010

  • Small fish are not only crucial to the survival of larger predatory fish such as hake, as well as birds and marine mammals - they also help to maintain balance in the species below them in the food chain.

    New Scientist - Space 2009

  • Additional VMS will go onto vessels into more distant waters, such as hake longliners.

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2009

Comments

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  • There was a most heathenish fear of doing certain things on Friday, and there were countless signs in which we still have confidence. When the moon is very bright and other people grow sentimental, we only remember that it is a fine night to catch hake.

    --Sarah Orne Jewett, 1877, Deephaven

    January 28, 2010