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sawfish

sawfish

1 7.6
A large sea animal like a ray with a long saw-like snout living in warm coastal waters
  • noun
  • /ˈsɔːˌfɪʃ/
: pez sierra
  • Ecologists are studying the habitat of the endangered sawfish to help in its recovery.
  • sawfish snout
  • sawfish are rays
  • catch a sawfish

Examples

  • PHOTO: Sea World instructors explain to visiting teachers how a sawfish snout can be used to promote hands-on learning.

    Academic text (1993)
  • See that little old sawfish?

  • We even took sawfish out of House's Bay, where my family had our cane farm north of Watson's place.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Trying to sell saws was his excuse for all that killing; it made him feel better about his life in some way, but the only good it did was save some turtle nets, which sawfish used to mess up something terrible.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • We harpooned sawfish from Chatham River all the way south to Cape Sable, and in that time, I told Mr. Dimock a fair amount about Ed Watson.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • That deputy must have thought so too, because he went away with no hard feelings and told everybody in Key West how the Watson Place was the only so-called plantation in the Islands that amounted to more than a small squirt of sawfish shit.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • But the 38-million-year-old fossil beds at Seymour Island, on the other side of the Antarctic Peninsula, have revealed a marine fauna that included catfish, rays, sawfish, and sharks.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The smalltooth sawfish is known for its distinctive long snout lined with teeth.

  • This unique fish, the sawfish, can grow up to 6 meters and is often found in warm coastal waters.

Synonyms

ray
vssawfish
9 4.2

A flat fish with wide fins that looks like wings

is a member of that group distinguished by a long sawlike toothed snout

Compounds

smalltooth sawfish
  • Specialized
1 9.8

A large tropical fish with a long flat snout lined with small teeth found in shallow bays and river mouths

Surface Forms

sawfish singular
sawfishes plural

Morphology

sawfish = saw + fish (transparent) = saw + fish

The compound denotes a fish with a saw-like snout; the meaning is directly inferable from 'saw' + 'fish'.

Etymology

Sawfish is a simple name made from saw + fish because this large sea animal has a long, flattened snout 'like a saw' edged with teeth. So, the name helps you remember that a sawfish is a fish with a saw-like nose.