dev·il·fish

(dĕv′əl-fĭsh′)

n. pl. devilfish or dev·il·fish·es

Any of various aquatic animals having hornlike appendages on the head or thought to have a sinister appearance, including the devil rays, the manta, and certain octopuses and squids.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

devilfish

(ˈdɛvəlˌfɪʃ)

n, pl -fish or -fishes

1. (Animals) Also called: devil ray another name for manta¹

2. (Animals) another name for octopus

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

man•ta

(ˈmæn tə, ˈmɑn-)

n., pl. -tas.

1. (in Spain and Spanish America) a cloak or wrap.

2. Also called man′ta ray`, devilfish. any warm-water ray of the family Mobulidae, esp. of the genus Manta, measuring up to 24 ft. (7.3 m) across.

[1690–1700; < Sp: blanket]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	devilfish - medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific Eschrichtius gibbosus, Eschrichtius robustus, gray whale, grey whale baleen whale, whalebone whale - whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water Eschrichtius, genus Eschrichtius - type and sole genus of the Eschrichtiidae
	2.	devilfish - bottom-living cephalopod having a soft oval body with eight long tentacles octopus octopod - a cephalopod with eight arms but lacking an internal shell genus Octopus - type genus of the family Octopodidae octopus - tentacles of octopus prepared as food
	3.	devilfish - extremely large pelagic tropical ray that feeds on plankton and small fishes; usually harmless but its size make it dangerous if harpooned manta ray, manta ray - cartilaginous fishes having horizontally flattened bodies and enlarged winglike pectoral fins with gills on the underside; most swim by moving the pectoral fins family Mobulidae, Mobulidae - large rays lacking venomous spines: mantas Atlantic manta, Manta birostris - largest manta (to 22 feet across wings); found worldwide but common in Gulf of Mexico and along southern coasts of United States; primarily oceanic devil ray, Mobula hypostoma - small manta (to 4 feet) that travels in schools

Translations

devilfish

[ˈdevlfɪʃ] N (devilfish or devilfishes (pl)) → raya f, manta f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

They had not intended to spend the afternoon, but found themselves too fascinated to turn away from the breakers bursting upon the rocks and from the many kinds of colorful sea life starfish, crabs, mussels, sea anemones, and, once, in a rock-pool, a small devilfish that chilled their blood when it cast the hooded net of its body around the small crabs they tossed to it.

View in context

The title is misleading, because it immediately conjures images of something massive, such as a white shark, devilfish, whale, or other leviathan.

The Ocean's Menace

Driven forward by powerful beats of wing-like pectoral fins, these filter feeders search the waters for prey, their horn-like head fins giving rise to ancient mariners' tales of fearsome devilfish dragging boats into the ocean depths.

What We Are Reading Today: Guide to the Manta and Devil Rays of the World

Popular areas this month will include the vicinity of the powerlines in Pine Island Sound and around Devilfish Key in Gasparilla Sound, but you might find these fish just about anywhere.

Summer Surprises

During the ceremony, the Sailors symbolically stood next to one of the two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters currently embarked as part of the San Diego-based Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 49 detachment, the "Devilfish." In the same ceremony, nine members of HSM49 Detachment 4, the "Scorpions," received their own designation as Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialists.

Sailors earn first enlisted aviation warfare specialist pin aboard a destroyer

Ex pawnbroker and jailbird from a Hull council estate, Devilfish became one of Britain's most successful poker players, netting himself around PS4million.

Ta-ra to those we lost in 2015 Remembering the stars and VIPs we loved

Do boldly in full view of all what another would not do in secret; choose the most ridiculous aways of satisfying your lust; and at the last, if you like, eat a raw devilfish or squid, and die.

Lucian's satire or philosophy on sale

Former world poker champion Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott, who went from living in ' a council block to the penthouse suites of Sin City died after losing his short battle with cancer.

Professional gambler played tough hand with true style

Former world poker champion Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, who went from living in a council block to the penthouse suites of Sin City died after losing his short battle with cancer.

Professional gambler played tough hand with true style

An array of exotic water creatures like golden apple snail and red devilfish are also on display.

Aquatic show a hit in Chennai

The quatrain "Flea," for instance, treats the insect as an image of love's ambivalence: "Fleas--friends, even lovers / How cruel are those who suck / Our blood in loving us ..." (John Donne likewise drew a lesson, somewhat different, from the little bloodsucker.) The poem "Devilfish" acknowledges that the poet himself practices such vampirism.

Medieval modernism

The ships will also visit five wilderness areas -- Capitan Passage and Devilfish Bay in Tongass National Forest, Little Port Walter and Mist Cove, Patterson Bay and Deep Cove, The Brothers Islands and Frederick Sound, and Endicott Arm and FordOs Terror Wilderness.

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