SHARK
Dictionary entry overview: What does shark mean?
• SHARK (noun)
The noun SHARK has 3 senses:
1. any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales
2. a person who is ruthless and greedy and dishonest
3. a person who is unusually skilled in certain ways
Familiarity information: SHARK used as a noun is uncommon.
• SHARK (verb)
The verb SHARK has 2 senses:
1. play the shark; act with trickery
2. hunt shark
Familiarity information: SHARK used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
• SHARK (noun)
Meaning:
Any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("shark" is a kind of...):
elasmobranch; selachian (any of numerous fishes of the class Chondrichthyes characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton and placoid scales: sharks; rays; skates)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shark"):
cow shark; Hexanchus griseus; six-gilled shark (large primitive shark widely distributed in warm seas)
angel shark; angelfish; monkfish; Squatina squatina (sharks with broad flat bodies and winglike pectoral fins but that swim the way sharks do)
hammerhead; hammerhead shark (medium-sized live-bearing shark with eyes at either end of a flattened hammer-shaped head; worldwide in warm waters; can be dangerous)
dogfish (any of several small sharks)
requiem shark (any of numerous sharks from small relatively harmless bottom-dwellers to large dangerous oceanic and coastal species)
cat shark (small bottom-dwelling sharks with catlike eyes; found along continental slopes)
Rhincodon typus; whale shark (large spotted shark of warm surface waters worldwide; resembles a whale and feeds chiefly on plankton)
Carcharias taurus; Odontaspis taurus; sand shark; sand tiger (shallow-water shark with sharp jagged teeth found on both sides of Atlantic; sometimes dangerous to swimmers)
Ginglymostoma cirratum; nurse shark (small bottom-dwelling shark of warm shallow waters on both coasts of North America and South America and from southeast Asia to Australia)
carpet shark; Orectolobus barbatus (shark of the western Pacific with flattened body and mottled skin)
Alopius vulpinus; fox shark; thrasher; thresher; thresher shark (large pelagic shark of warm seas with a whiplike tail used to round up small fish on which to feed)
mackerel shark (fierce pelagic and oceanic sharks)
Meaning:
A person who is ruthless and greedy and dishonest
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("shark" is a kind of...):
offender; wrongdoer (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shark"):
loan shark; moneylender; shylock; usurer (someone who lends money at excessive rates of interest)
Meaning:
A person who is unusually skilled in certain ways
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Context example:
a card shark
Hypernyms ("shark" is a kind of...):
expert (a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully)
• SHARK (verb)
Meaning:
Play the shark; act with trickery
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "shark" is one way to...):
cheat; chisel (engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Meaning:
Hunt shark
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
Hypernyms (to "shark" is one way to...):
fish (catch or try to catch fish or shellfish)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Sentence example:
In the summer they like to go out and shark
