lamprey (redirected from lampreys)

lam·prey  (lmpr)

n. pl. lam·preys

Any of various primitive elongated freshwater or anadromous fishes of the family Petromyzontidae, characteristically having a jawless sucking mouth with rasping teeth. Also called lamper eel.

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[Middle English lamprei, from Old French lampreie, from Medieval Latin lamprda.]

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lamprey

Noun

an eel-like fish with a round sucking mouth [Late Latin lampreda]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

lamprey - primitive eellike freshwater or anadromous cyclostome having round sucking mouth with a rasping tongue lamper eel, lamprey eel agnathan, jawless fish, jawless vertebrate - eel-shaped vertebrate without jaws or paired appendages including the cyclostomes and some extinct forms family Petromyzontidae, Petromyzontidae - lampreys Petromyzon marinus, sea lamprey - large anadromous lamprey sometimes used as food; destructive of native fish fauna in the Great Lakes