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gar

gar

4 9.9
A long fish with hard scales, long jaws, and sharp teeth that lives in rivers and coasts
  • noun
  • /ɡɑr/
  • US
translation icon : pez gar
  • The long jaws of a gar are lined with sharp teeth, making it an effective predator.
  • the alligator gar
  • gar and carp
  • gar and bass

Examples

  • Bass, gar, bream, carp, and catfish all lived in the river.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • "I wouldn't eat a gar," Konrad said.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • There is a massive gar right here.

  • So our baby gar and sunfish are doing good.

  • At the bank, he put his foot on it and pulled out the gig, leaving the gar to flop about on the hot rocks.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Dead fish are floating around; the gar snap at everything, and the turtles get spastic.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Local historians say the bayou was named for the buffalo gar that regularly navigates its waters.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • He pulled in a gar, one of those long, thin fish with a mouthful of needlelike teeth.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He set lines and nets for catfish, carp, and gar.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • When I had a big gar on the tines, it was like I had crawled along a narrow passage into the heart of a pyramid and had opened some pharaoh's sealed tomb, standing astonished at the glitter of all that gold.

    Fiction book (2000)

Synonyms

garfish
vsgar
  • US
8.2

A large fish with a long body, hard scales, and long jaws full of thin, sharp teeth

is broader and also applies to populations in European coastal waters
Lepisosteus osseus
vsgar
  • Specialized
9.9

A long river fish with hard scales, long jaws, and sharp thin teeth that eats fish

is the general term covering similar fishes beyond that species
garpike
vsgar
  • Archaic
9.9

A large freshwater fish with a long snout and hard diamond-shaped scales that eats other fish

is broader and not limited to primitive North American forms only
Lepisosteus
vsgar
  • Specialized
9.9

A freshwater fish with a long jaw full of sharp teeth and hard scales from North and Central America

includes coastal European occurrences and is not limited to that genus

Surface Forms

gar singular
gars plural

Etymology

The word gar comes from an old English word gār that means 'spear', because this fish has a long, pointed snout like a spear. That's why the name gar fits this long, toothy fish.