sardine

See also: Sardine

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /sɑːˈdiːn/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /sɑɹˈdin/
  • Rhymes: -iːn
  • Hyphenation: sard‧ine

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French sardine (cognate with Spanish sardina, Italian sardina), Latin sardīna; from Ancient Greek σαρδίνη (sardínē).

Noun

sardine (plural sardines)

  1. Any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the pilchard, or European sardine (Sardina pilchardus, syn. Clupea pilchardus). The American sardines of the Atlantic coast are mostly the young of the Atlantic herring and of the menhaden.
    Hypernyms: herring < fish < animal < creature
    They feasted on premium sardines packed in olive oil, as did their hunting dogs, who insisted on joining the meal.
  2. (figurative) Someone packed or crammed into a small space.
    They watched bemused as countless sardines disgorged from a railway car that was never designed to hold so many passengers.
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Welsh: sardîn
Translations

Verb

sardine (third-person singular simple present sardines, present participle sardining, simple past and past participle sardined)

  1. to fish for sardines
    • 1997, Peter Landesman, The raven: a novel:
      No 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.
  2. to pack or cram together tightly.
    • 1954, Tom McCahill, The modern sports car:
      Six-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.

Etymology 2

Pliny states that its name was ultimately derived from Sardis, in Lydia, where the sard was first discovered; but probably ultimately derived from Persian sered ("yellowish-red").[1]

Noun

sardine (plural sardines)

  1. (obsolete) carnelian.[2]
  2. Dark-brown sard.[1]

Adjective

sardine (comparative more sardine, superlative most sardine)

  1. Characteristic of a sardius.[3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Sard"[1], in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
  2. ^ sardine”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  3. ^ G4555: σάρδινος sardinos[2], in Strong's Concordance.

Anagrams

Dutch

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Dutch sardeyne, sardayne, sardine, from Latin sardīna.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌsɑrˈdi.nə/, /sɑrˈdin/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: sar‧di‧ne
  • Rhymes: -inə, -in

Noun

sardine f (plural sardines, diminutive sardinetje n)

  1. sardine, fish of the family Clupeidae

Derived terms

  • sardineblik

Descendants

  • Afrikaans: sardyn, sardien
  • Caribbean Javanese: dhèntyis
  • Papiamentu: saldinchi, sardinchi, sardin (Aruba)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sardīna.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /saʁ.din/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

sardine f (plural sardines)

  1. sardine, pilchard
    • 1788, Jean-Jacques_Barthélemy, Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce:
      Les sardines sont ailleurs l'aliment du peuple ; celles que nous prenons aux environs de Phalère mériteraient d'être servies à la table des dieux, surtout quand on ne les laisse qu'un instant dans l'huile.
      The pilchards taken in other countries are the food of the common people ; those we catch in the vicinity of Phalerum are worthly of the table of the gods, especially when left to steep only for a moment in boiling oil.
  2. tent peg, stake

Descendants

Further reading

Anagrams

Italian

Noun

sardine f

  1. plural of sardina

Anagrams

Latin

Adjective

sardīne

  1. vocative masculine singular of sardīnus