Sardine
Origin
Borrowing from fr sardine (compare Spanish sardina, Italian sardina), Latin sardina; from the name of the island of Sardinia, Ancient Greek ΣαÏδÎλα.
Full definition of sardine
Noun
sardine
(plural sardines)- Any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the pilchard, or (). The California sardine () is similar. The American sardines of the Atlantic coast are mostly the young of the common herring and of the menhaden.
- (obsolete) carnelian
- unknown date Rev 4:3 KJVAnd he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
- (figurative) Someone packed or crammed into a small space.
Derived terms
Verb
- to fish for sardines
- 1997, Peter Landesman, The raven: a novelNo one on Monhegan says they saw them, but a man sardining says he saw it headed there, or at least some boat with people atop it.
- to pack or cram together tightly.
- 1954, Tom McCahill, The modern sports carSix-foot- four McMichael (a past master at the art of sardining) not only crammed enough clothes for the trip into the mighty midget, but carried a full set of golf clubs and a banjo, as well!
- 1986, The New Yorker - Volumen 62,Would it be unbearably elitist to suggest that they would be more enjoyable still if the director removed a row or two of chairs, instead of sardining as many listeners as possible into the intimate music room?
- 2007, Julie Kavanagh, Nureyev: The Life There were already six members of the Nureyev family living in a room sixteen meters square, the children sardined on one mattress on the floor, their parents separated by only a curtain.