bonefish

[ bohn-fish ]

noun,plural bone·fish·es, (especially collectively) bone·fish.
  1. a marine game fish, Albula vulpes, found in shallow tropical waters, having a skeleton composed of numerous small, fine bones.

Origin of bonefish

1
An Americanism dating back to 1725–35; bone + fish

Words Nearby bonefish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bonefish in a sentence

  • I’d never fished for bonefish before and found the ecosystem of the flats amazing.

  • I made the mental observation that the man who had named them bonefish should have had half of that name applied to his head.

    Tales of Fishes | Zane Grey
  • When a bonefish feeds his head is down and his tail is up, and, the water being shallow, the upper fluke of his tail stands out.

    Tales of Fishes | Zane Grey
  • Other men tried it for days without success, though it appeared bonefish were passing every tide.

    Tales of Fishes | Zane Grey
  • I saw many ten-pound fish, but I did not know enough about bonefish then to appreciate what I saw.

    Tales of Fishes | Zane Grey
  • Whenever I would stick my rod in the sand and go in out of the hot sun a bonefish would take my bait and start off to sea.

    Tales of Fishes | Zane Grey

British Dictionary definitions for bonefish

bonefish

/ (ˈbəʊnˌfɪʃ) /


nounplural -fish or -fishes
  1. a silvery marine clupeoid game fish, Albula vulpes, occurring in warm shallow waters: family Albulidae

  2. a similar related fish, Dixonina nemoptera, of the Pacific Ocean

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