sardine

/sɑrˈdin/

/sɑˈdin/

Other forms: sardines

A sardine is a very small, oily fish. You might like to eat sardines on toast for lunch. If you do, we suggest an after-lunch mint may be in order.

Sardines are most often bought canned, lined up in rows in little tins. The word sardine is actually a general term — it refers to a type of fish, most often a small herring, while a slightly larger one is sometimes called a pilchard. The phrase "packed like sardines," describing people crowded together in a tight spot like an elevator or a subway car, comes from the way sardines look in cans. The word itself comes from the Mediterranean island Sardinia.

Definitions of sardine

1. noun

   small fishes found in great schools along coasts of Europe; smaller and rounder than herring
   synonyms: Sardina pilchardus, pilchard

   types:

   Pacific sardine, Sardinops caerulea

   small pilchards common off the pacific coast of North America

   type of:

   clupeid, clupeid fish

   any of numerous soft-finned schooling food fishes of shallow waters of northern seas
2. noun

   any of various small edible herring or related food fishes frequently canned
   types:

   sild

   any of various young herrings (other than brislings) canned as sardines in Norway

   Clupea sprattus, brisling, sprat

   small herring processed like a sardine

   type of:

   food fish

   any fish used for food by human beings

   clupeid, clupeid fish

   any of numerous soft-finned schooling food fishes of shallow waters of northern seas
3. noun

   small fatty fish usually canned
   synonyms: pilchard

   type of:

   saltwater fish

   flesh of fish from the sea used as food
4. noun

   a deep orange-red variety of chalcedony
   synonyms: sard, sardius

   type of:

   calcedony, chalcedony

   a milky or greyish translucent to transparent quartz