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eel

[ eel ]

noun

, plural (especially collectively) eel, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) eels.
  1. any of numerous elongated, snakelike marine or freshwater fishes of the order Apodes, having no ventral fins.
  2. any of several similar but unrelated fishes, as the lamprey.


eel

/ iːl /

noun

  1. any teleost fish of the order Apodes (or Anguilliformes ), such as the European freshwater species Anguilla anguilla, having a long snakelike body, a smooth slimy skin, and reduced fins
  2. any of various other animals with a long body and smooth skin, such as the mud eel and the electric eel
  3. an evasive or untrustworthy person
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈeel-ˌlike, adjective
  • ˈeely, adjective
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Other Words From

  • eellike adjective
  • eely adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of eel1

before 1000; Middle English ele, Old English ēl, ǣl; cognate with Dutch aal, German Aal, Old Norse āll
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Word History and Origins

Origin of eel1

Old English ǣl; related to Old Frisian ēl, Old Norse āll, Old High German āl
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Idioms and Phrases

see slippery as an eel .
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Example Sentences

Raw eel seemed to be popular during and after the Middle Ages.

Today, Eel Pie Island is home to a mellower bunch: retirees, artists, and the like.

These are just a few of the famous visitors to Eel Pie Island, a centuries-old refuge for musicians, hippies, and writers.

There are literally restaurants that focus entirely on a single ingredient, like eel for example.

Stanley Hall also went for pastime, and Billy Towler slid into the boat like an eel, without leave, just as it pushed off.

Your Caroline, so enticing five hours before in this very chamber where she frisked about like an eel, is now a junk of lead.

Swaying tufts of vegetation marked the rapid passage of eel-like bodies.

We succeeded in taking an eel, a few crabs, and a small quantity of snails.

The lighter man was slippery as an eel, as hard to hit as a Corbett.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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