eel

nounverbattested in dialogue

//iːl//

Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.

noun

1
Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.
Off the United States, the National Marine Fisheries Service is helping industry explore fisheries for deep shrimp, rattails, chimeras, orange roughy, smoothheads, slackjaw eels, blue hake, skates and dogfish, which the National Fisheries Institute, an industry group, in an effort to improve their marketability, has renamed cape shark.
2
A European eel (Anguilla anguilla).
3
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: An electric eel (any knifefish of the genus Electrophorus)
4
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: In the order Synbranchiformes: A swamp eel (any fish in the family Synbranchidae).
5
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: In the order Synbranchiformes: An earthworm eel, also called the spineless eel (any fish in the family Chaudhuriidae).
6
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: In the order Synbranchiformes: A spiny eel (any fish in the family Mastacembelidae).
7
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: A deep-sea spiny eel (any fish in the family Notacanthidae).
8
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A conger eel, also called the Congo eel, amphiuma, and Congo snake (any salamander of the genus Amphiuma).
9
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A two-legged eel, also called the mud eel and lesser siren, Siren intermedia.
10
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A leopard eel, also called the leopard siren and reticulated siren, Siren reticulata.
11
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A rubber eel, Typhlonectes natans.
12
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: A vinegar eel, a roundworm of species Turbatrix aceti.
13
Someone or something that is sneaky and/or hard to catch.
That Dennis is a right eel, he always seems to slip away from the scene at the right time.
His expression when incredulous. "Why would you think that?" He was a slippery little eel.
Philosophers and literary critics from ancient times, along with social scientists, physicians, theologians, and biblical scholars more recently, have tried to get a tentative handle, if not a firm grasp, on this "slippery eel" of humor and laughter.
John scowled after the dog. "Never fear, my lady. I shall get the sneaky, slippery eel yet."

Etymology

From Middle English el (“eel”), from Old English ǣl (“eel”), from Proto-West Germanic *āl (“eel”), from Proto-Germanic *ēlaz (“eel”), which is of unknown origin. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian iel (“eel”), Dutch aal (“eel”), German Low German Aal, Ool (“eel”), German Aal (“eel”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ål (“eel”), Faroese állur, álur (“eel”), Icelandic áll (“eel”).

verb

1
To fish for eels.
2
To move with a sinuous motion like that of an eel.

Forms

plural: eels
past tense: eeled
past participle: eeled
present participle: eeling
third person singular: eels

Edwin · A male given name from Old English.ee · eh Ee · A surname.

eel · Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.

Eel · A township in Cass County, Indiana, United States, probably…eerie · Inspiring fear, especially in a mysterious or shadowy way;…effect · The result or outcome of a cause.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.