Definitions

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

  • noun Any of several large edible flatfishes of the genus Hippoglossus and related genera, of northern Atlantic or Pacific waters.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fish of the genus Hippoglossus, H. vulgaris, and the largest species of the flatfish family or Pleuronectidæ.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) A large, northern, marine flatfish (Hippoglossus vulgaris), of the family Pleuronectidæ. It often grows very large, weighing more than three hundred pounds. It is an important food fish.

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

  • noun A large flatfish of the genus Hippoglossus, which sometimes leaves the ocean floor and swims vertically.

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

  • noun marine food fish of the northern Atlantic or northern Pacific; the largest flatfish and one of the largest teleost fishes
  • noun lean flesh of very large flatfish of Atlantic or Pacific

Etymologies

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

[Middle English : hali, holi, holy (from its being eaten on holy days); see holy + butte, flatfish (from Middle Dutch; see bhau- in Indo-European roots).]

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  • halibut a beaten (flatten) fish: as in beetle and turbot too

    January 16, 2007