DEVILFISH (devilfishes)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: devilfishes   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does devilfish mean? 

• DEVILFISH (noun)
  The noun DEVILFISH has 3 senses:

1. medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific

2. bottom-living cephalopod having a soft oval body with eight long tentacles

3. extremely large pelagic tropical ray that feeds on plankton and small fishes; usually harmless but its size make it dangerous if harpooned

  Familiarity information: DEVILFISH used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEVILFISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

devilfish; Eschrichtius gibbosus; Eschrichtius robustus; gray whale; grey whale

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

baleen whale; whalebone whale (whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water)

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

Eschrichtius; genus Eschrichtius (type and sole genus of the Eschrichtiidae)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bottom-living cephalopod having a soft oval body with eight long tentacles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

devilfish; octopus

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

octopod (a cephalopod with eight arms but lacking an internal shell)

Meronyms (parts of "devilfish"):

octopus (tentacles of octopus prepared as food)

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

genus Octopus (type genus of the family Octopodidae)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Extremely large pelagic tropical ray that feeds on plankton and small fishes; usually harmless but its size make it dangerous if harpooned

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

devilfish; manta; manta ray

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

ray (cartilaginous fishes having horizontally flattened bodies and enlarged winglike pectoral fins with gills on the underside; most swim by moving the pectoral fins)

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

Atlantic manta; Manta birostris (largest manta (to 22 feet across wings); found worldwide but common in Gulf of Mexico and along southern coasts of United States; primarily oceanic)

devil ray; Mobula hypostoma (small manta (to 4 feet) that travels in schools)

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

family Mobulidae; Mobulidae (large rays lacking venomous spines: mantas)