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eel

 (ēl)
n. pl. eel or eels
1. Any of various long, snakelike, scaleless marine or freshwater fishes of the order Anguilliformes that lack pelvic fins and characteristically migrate from fresh water to salt water to spawn.
2. Any of several similar fishes, such as the lamprey and electric eel.

[Middle English ele, from Old English ǣl.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

eel

(iːl)
n
1. (Animals) 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. (Animals) 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
[Old English ǣl; related to Old Frisian ēl, Old Norse āll, Old High German āl]
ˈeel-ˌlike adj
ˈeely adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

eel

(il)

n., pl. (esp. collectively) eel, (esp. for 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.
[before 1000; Middle English ele, Old English ēl, ǣl; c. Old Frisian ēl, Old Saxon, Old High German āl, Old Norse āll]
eel′like, adj.
eel′y, adj.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

eel

(ēl)
1. Any of various fish having long, snake-like bodies without scales. Eels typically migrate from fresh to salt water to spawn.
2. Any of several similar fish, such as the lamprey.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.eel - the fatty flesh of eeleel - the fatty flesh of eel; an elongate fish found in fresh water in Europe and America; large eels are usually smoked or pickled
common eel, freshwater eel - eels that live in fresh water as adults but return to sea to spawn; found in Europe and America; marketed both fresh and smoked
fish - the flesh of fish used as food; "in Japan most fish is eaten raw"; "after the scare about foot-and-mouth disease a lot of people started eating fish instead of meat"; "they have a chef who specializes in fish"
smoked eel - eel cured by smoking
elver - young eel; may be sauteed or batter-fried
2.eel - voracious snakelike marine or freshwater fishes with smooth slimy usually scaleless skin and having a continuous vertical fin but no ventral fins
malacopterygian, soft-finned fish - any fish of the superorder Malacopterygii
Anguilliformes, order Anguilliformes, order Apodes - elongate fishes with pelvic fins and girdle absent or reduced
elver - young eel
common eel, freshwater eel - eels that live in fresh water as adults but return to sea to spawn; found in Europe and America; marketed both fresh and smoked
Anguilla sucklandii, tuna - New Zealand eel
moray, moray eel - family of brightly colored voracious eels of warm coastal waters; generally nonaggressive to humans but larger species are dangerous if provoked
conger, conger eel - large dark-colored scaleless marine eel found in temperate and tropical coastal waters; some used for food
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

eel

noun
Related words
adjective anguilliform
young elver, grig
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
أنْقَليس، حَنْكَليسأنْكَليس
змиорка
úhoř
ål
angilo
ankeriasankeriaskala
jegulja
angolna
belut
áll
ウナギ
뱀장어
anguilla
ungurys
zutis
jegulja
jeguljaugor
ål
mkunga
ปลาไหล
вугор
cá chìnhcon lươn

eel

[iːl] Nanguila f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

eel

[ˈiːl] nanguille f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

eel

nAal m ? slippery
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

eel

[iːl] nanguilla
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

eel

(iːl) noun
a kind of fish with a long smooth cylindrical or ribbon-shaped body.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

eel

أنْكَليس úhoř ål Aal χέλι anguila ankerias anguille jegulja anguilla ウナギ 뱀장어 paling ål węgorz enguia угорь ål ปลาไหล yılan balığı con lươn
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
References in classic literature ?
But my wife has gone fishing for red eels to-day, so some of you will have to mind the children."
After having my hands in it for only a few minutes, my fingers felt like eels, and began, as it were, to serpentine and spiralize.
He stopped Alleyne to ask him whether it was not true that there was a hostel somewhere in those parts which was especially famous for the stewing of eels. The clerk having made answer that he had heard the eels of Sowley well spoken of, the friar sucked in his lips and hurried forward.
There have been caught in Walden pickerel, one weighing seven pounds -- to say nothing of another which carried off a reel with great velocity, which the fisherman safely set down at eight pounds because he did not see him -- perch and pouts, some of each weighing over two pounds, shiners, chivins or roach (Leuciscus pulchellus), a very few breams, and a couple of eels, one weighing four pounds -- I am thus particular because the weight of a fish is commonly its only title to fame, and these are the only eels I have heard of here; -- also, I have a faint recollection of a little fish some five inches long, with silvery sides and a greenish back, somewhat dace-like in its character, which I mention here chiefly to link my facts to fable.
He saw the fine red brick houses, mortared in white lines, standing on the edge of the water, and their balconies, open towards the river, decked out with silk tapestry embroidered with gold flowers, the wonderful manufacture of India and China; and near these brilliant stuffs, large lines set to catch the voracious eels, which are attracted towards the houses by the garbage thrown every day from the kitchens into the river.
A few minutes later they returned, carrying poor Pinocchio, who was wriggling and squirming like an eel and crying pitifully:
But look, Queequeg, ain't that a live eel in your bowl?
"Or, my juvenile friends," says Chadband, descending to the level of their comprehension with a very obtrusive demonstration in his greasily meek smile of coming a long way downstairs for the purpose, "if the master of this house was to go forth into the city and there see an eel, and was to come back, and was to call unto him the mistress of this house, and was to say, 'Sarah, rejoice with me, for I have seen an elephant!' would THAT be Terewth?"
Mugridge went down on the fore-hatch under three men; but he emerged from the mass like an eel, bleeding at the mouth, the offending shirt ripped into tatters, and sprang for the main-rigging.
Go to that table, and make haste and take a seat," said the prince, and turning away he carefully took a plate of eel soup.
I used to wriggle along in a most unseemly fashion, like an eel, continually moving aside to make way for generals, for officers of the guards and the hussars, or for ladies.
"I'm Ben Gunn, I am," replied the maroon, wriggling like an eel in his embarrassment.