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herring

[ her-ing ]

noun

, plural (especially collectively) her·ring, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) her·rings.
  1. an important food fish, Clupea harengus harengus, found in enormous shoals in the North Atlantic.
  2. a similar fish, Clupea harengus pallasii, of the North Pacific.
  3. any fish of the family Clupeidae, including herrings, shads, and sardines.
  4. any of various fishes resembling the herring but of unrelated families.


herring

/ ˈhɛrɪŋ /

noun

  1. any marine soft-finned teleost fish of the family Clupeidae, esp Clupea harengus, an important food fish of northern seas, having an elongated body covered, except in the head region, with large fragile silvery scales
“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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Other Words From

  • herring·like adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of herring1

before 900; Middle English hering, Old English hǣring; cognate with German Häring
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Word History and Origins

Origin of herring1

Old English hǣring; related to Old High German hāring, Old Frisian hēring, Dutch haring
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Idioms and Phrases

see dead as a doornail (herring) ; red herring .
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Example Sentences

With the red herring out of the way, XENONnT researchers are now combing through their data for nuclear recoils, in hopes of detecting the real deal.

Fish meal and fish oil from anchovies, sardines, mackerel, herring, and other small forage fish comprise 25 to 30 percent of most salmon feed.

From Time

These myths are a huge problem because they’re red herrings.

At this point, zeroing in on RT as the source of authoritarian disinformation is a red herring.

I think the outdoor sports situation might be something of a red herring here.

Koenig makes a big deal out of this call and frames it as a massive red herring.

Nevertheless, Brian Rogers, a McCain aide pushed back against UANI, calling the Rio Tinto-Iran connection “a red herring.”

This can easily be mistaken for a kipper, the smoked herring that is on the breakfast menus of many British hotels.

“All the recent notoriety is just an added bonus to the fact that we are doing what we love,” says Herring.

“I feel like a lot of people missed it,” says Herring, despondently.

During the other seasons there are other kinds of fish, but at that time it was the Herring season.

He forgets, you see, that he possessed an unusual constitution, and the temperament of a Norwegian herring.

The Judge inquired if that was the sole object of the plaintiff, or was it not rather baiting with a sprat to catch a herring?

There are an extensive mackerel and herring fishery, and motor engineering works.

But we have to discuss the red-herring, not of the artful politician, anxious to dodge his hearers, but of the breakfast-table.

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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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