shark

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃɑɹk/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃɑːk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k

Of uncertain origin, most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived word shark/Schurke for a "scoundrel" (see below). The fish was originally called a dogfish or haye in English and Middle English.

Some older dictionaries derived the word from Latin c(h)archarias, c(h)charus (from Ancient Greek), but admit that "the requisite [Old French] forms intermediate between E. shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is not certain that the name was orig. applied to the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy man".[1]

Other older authorities speculated that the word might derive from Yucatec Maya xoc (“fish”) (/ʃok/), as John Hawkins brought a specimen from the area where Mayan was spoken to England in the 1560s. However, Thomas Beckington used the word in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish, ruling out a New World origin for the word.[2]

shark (plural sharks)

1. A scaleless, predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.
   • 1569, The true discripcion of this marueilous straunge Fishe, whiche was taken on Thursday was sennight, the xvi. day of June, this present month, in the yeare of our Lord God, M.D.lxix., a broadside printed in London, the second earliest known use of the term; reprinted in A Collection of Seventy-Nine Black-Letter Ballads and Broadsides: printed in the reigh of Queen Elizabeth, between the years 1559 and 1597 in 1867:

     The straunge fishe is in length xvij. foote and iij. foote broad, and in compas about the bodie vj. foote; and is round snowted, short headdid, hauing iij. rankes of teeth on either iawe, [...]. Also it hath v. gills of eache side of the head, shoing white. Ther is no proper name for it that I know, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a sharke.

   • 2011 October 13, AP, “Man 'surfs' great white shark”, in The Guardian:

     He said he had spoken to a woman who was kayaking off Catalina Island, California, in 2008 when a shark slammed her kayak from underneath and sent her flying into the air. She then landed on the back of the shark, Collier said. "At that point the shark started to swim out to sea, so she jumped off its back," Collier said.

• sharke (obsolete)

• (scaleless cartilaginous fish): haye (obsolete)

shark (third-person singular simple present sharks, present participle sharking, simple past and past participle sharked)

1. (rare) To fish for sharks.

• barracuda
• dogfish
• hammerhead
• porbeagle
• smooth hound
• thresher
• white pointer

From German Schurke (“scoundrel”); compare Dutch schurk.

shark (plural sharks)

1. Someone who exploits others, for example by trickery, lies, usury, extortion.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “[…] Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. Oh, dear, there's so much to tell you, so many warnings to give you, but all that must be postponed for the moment.”

2. (informal, derogatory) A sleazy and amoral lawyer; an ambulance chaser.
3. (informal) A relentless and resolute person or group, especially in business.
   • 17 June 2018, Barney Ronay, The Guardian, Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win:

     In the event they lacked a proper midfield bolt, with Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira huffing around in pursuit of the whizzing green machine. The centre-backs looked flustered, left to deal with three on two as Mexico broke. Löw’s 4-2-3-1 seemed antiquated and creaky, with the old World Cup shark Thomas Müller flat-footed in a wide position.

4. (informal) A very good poker or pool player. Compare fish (a bad poker player).
5. (sports and games) A person who feigns ineptitude to win money from others.

• (player who feigns ineptitude to win money): hustler

• The use of the term by people unfamiliar with pool is rarely well perceived by experienced players.

shark (third-person singular simple present sharks, present participle sharking, simple past and past participle sharked)

1. (obsolete) To steal or obtain through fraud.
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To play the petty thief; to practice fraud or trickery; to swindle.
   • Bishop Earle

     Neither sharks for a cup or a reckoning.

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To live by shifts and stratagems.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)

• shirk

• shark at OneLook Dictionary Search
• shark in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Probably from the "steal" senses above, but perhaps related to shear. Compare shirk.

shark (third-person singular simple present sharks, present participle sharking, simple past and past participle sharked)

1. (obsolete) To pick or gather indiscriminately or covertly.
   • Shakespeare, Hamlet I.i.

     Fortinbras […] Hath […] Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes.

• HKSAR, harks

From Proto-Slavic *sorka (“shirt”).[1]

• IPA^(key): /ʃaɾk/

shark m

1. shell (of certain fruits like nuts, hazel, chestnut etc)
2. skin (that covers the seed of certain fruits like peach, grape, prunes etc)
3. snake skin

• sharkë