ANCHOVY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does anchovy mean? 

• ANCHOVY (noun)
  The noun ANCHOVY has 2 senses:

1. tiny fishes usually canned or salted; used for hors d'oeuvres or as seasoning in sauces

2. small herring-like plankton-eating fishes often canned whole or as paste; abundant in tropical waters worldwide

  Familiarity information: ANCHOVY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANCHOVY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tiny fishes usually canned or salted; used for hors d'oeuvres or as seasoning in sauces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("anchovy" is a kind of...):

fish (the flesh of fish used as food)

Holonyms ("anchovy" is a substance of...):

anchovy paste (paste made primarily of anchovies; used in sauces and spreads)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Small herring-like plankton-eating fishes often canned whole or as paste; abundant in tropical waters worldwide

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("anchovy" is a kind of...):

malacopterygian; soft-finned fish (any fish of the superorder Malacopterygii)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "anchovy"):

Engraulis encrasicholus; mediterranean anchovy (esteemed for its flavor; usually preserved or used for sauces and relishes)

Holonyms ("anchovy" is a member of...):

Engraulidae; family Engraulidae (anchovies)

 Context examples 

I think they must have been taken out at random, for I am sure I tasted aniseed water, anchovy sauce, and salad dressing.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Purines are in your body's tissues and in foods, such as liver, dried beans and peas, and anchovies.

(Gout, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

Sharks have a reputation as ravenous hunters and apex predators, but new analysis of fossil records shows that some of the earliest sharks might have been filter feeders, taking in water through their mouths and catching food particles — think less great white and more anchovy, another filter feeder.

(Ancient sharks likely more diverse than previously thought, National Science Foundation)

Instead of lurking on the seafloor and ambushing prey, as many of its contemporaries did, Gladbachus may have been one of the first vertebrates to live in the water column — the space between the ocean's surface and bottom — where anchovies, sardines and herring make their home today.

(Ancient sharks likely more diverse than previously thought, National Science Foundation)