Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various fishes having silvery scales, such as a tarpon or silverside.
- noun Any of various small wingless insects of the order Thysanura, having a silvery body and a three-pronged tail, especially Lepisma saccharina, which feeds on the starchy material in bookbindings, clothing, and food.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Tasmanian name for Carangus georgianus, of the family Carangidæ, the white or silver trevally. E. E. Morris, Austral English.
- noun An artificial variety of the goldfish, Carassius auratas, more or less nearly colorless, or with silvery-white instead of red scales on much or all of the body.
- noun A sand-smelt or atherine; any fish of the family Atherinidæ: same as
silversides . - noun The bream Notemigonus chrysoleucus. See cut under
shiner . - noun The tarpon (or tarpum) or jewfish, Megalops atlanticus or M. thrissoides. Also sabalo, savanilla. See cut under
tarpon . - noun The characinoid Curimatus argenteus, inhabiting the fresh waters of Trinidad.
- noun Any species of Lepisma, as L. saccharina or L. domestica, a thysanurous insect occurring in houses and damaging books, wall-paper, etc. See
Lepisma . Also called walking-fish, bristletail, fishtail, furniture-bug, silver-moth, silver-witch, shiner, and silvertail.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The tarpum.
- noun A white variety of the goldfish.
- noun one of a variety of insects of the order Thysanura, especially
Lepisma saccharina , which may infest houses, and eats starched clothing and sized papers. SeeLepisma.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small
wingless insect with silvery scales, a type ofbristletail . - noun The
tarpum . - noun A white variety of the
goldfish .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a silvery variety of Carassius auratus
- noun silver-grey wingless insect found in houses feeding on book bindings and starched clothing
Etymologies
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Examples
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February 20, 2006 2: 03 PM lil ms d said ... silverfish is another place i spend way too much money at ...
A Home for Bookworms Sharon Bakar 2006
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Simon said ... some time ago i was quite disappointed with mph for certain reasons, but in recent months i have liked them again for stocking some rare books i were looking for. for me borders was a little disappointing, but i need to visit them more often to really explore the place. silverfish is nice, but since it moved bangsar i've only been there once ...
Bookshop Snakes and Ladders Sharon Bakar 2005
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Tiny insects called silverfish breed and flourish deep in the bindings of old rare books, feasting on dried glue and working around the clock to destroy another literary treasure -- while giving unsuspecting page-flippers the creeps.
Bruce McCall: Bulletin from the Rechargable Electronic Reading Council 2009
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Among the many arthropods we willingly share our home with are the so-called silverfish of the order Thysanura.
Archive 2007-06-01 AYDIN 2007
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Among the many arthropods we willingly share our home with are the so-called silverfish of the order Thysanura.
A primitive wingless insect from the bedroom AYDIN 2007
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Often misidentified for a silverfish is the common house centipede, a house-dwelling arthropod that exhibits rapid, fluid movement instead.
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Exchanging a word or two with the chief engineer, the commander continues his way to the torpedo-chamber where the deadly "silverfish," as the Germans have named the hideous projectiles, lie.
Our Navy in the War Lawrence Perry 1914
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Repotting, we tore the roots apart, vermiculite clinging like hatchlings of silverfish to its tendrils.
Winter’s Tale 2009
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Repotting, we tore the roots apart, vermiculite clinging like hatchlings of silverfish to its tendrils.
Winter’s Tale 2009
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Maybe the silverfish aren't the crazy ones, after all.
The Nose in a Day Michael J. Ybarra 2012
bilby commented on the word silverfish
What did they eat before books were invented?
May 26, 2008