• Herring

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -ɛɹɪŋ

    Origin

    From Middle English hering, from Old English hǣring, from Proto-Germanic *hēringaz, further etymology unknown. Cognate with Dutch haring, German Hering etc.

    Full definition of herring

    Noun

    herring

    (plural herrings or herring)
    1. A type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 4, Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
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