shark

Definitions

1. 1.A rapacious, artful person; a sharper. [Colloq.]
2. 2.Trickery; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark. [Obs.] South. Baskin shark, Liver shark, Nurse shark, Oil shark, Sand shark, Tiger shark, etc. See under Basking, Liver, etc. See also Dogfish, Houndfish, Notidanian, and Tope. -- Gray shark, the sand shark. -- Hammer-headed shark. See Hammerhead. -- Port Jackson shark. See Cestraciont. -- Shark barrow, the eggcase of a shark; a sea purse. -- Shark ray. Same as Angel fish (a), under Angel. -- Thrasher shark, or Thresher shark, a large, voracious shark. See Thrasher. -- Whale shark, a huge harmless shark (Rhinodon typicus) of the Indian Ocean. It becomes sixty feet or more in length, but has very small teeth.
3. 3.To pick or gather indiscriminately or covertly. [Obs.] Shak.
4. 4.To play the petty thief; to practice fraud or trickery; to swindle. Neither sharks for a cup or a reckoning. Bp. Earle.
5. 5.To live by shifts and stratagems. Beau & Fl.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "shark" mean?
• What is another word for "shark"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is shark.

• What is a rapacious, artful person; a sharper. [Colloq.] called?
• What is to pick or gather indiscriminately or covertly. [Obs.] Shak called?
• What is to play the petty thief; to practice fraud or trickery; to swindle. Neither sharks for a cup or a reckoning. Bp. Earle called?
• What is to live by shifts and stratagems. Beau & Fl called?