sharks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of shark.

   Tagged sharks travel thousands of miles across open ocean each year.

   Researchers counted dozens of sharks gathered around the seal colony.

   Note

   A regular plural, but it belongs to the animal, not the meal. Shark eaten as food is uncountable, so a menu offers shark, never sharks. The plural also stretches past the true sharks of Selachimorpha. It covers fish that only borrow the name, such as the iridescent shark and species of Epalzeorhynchos and Balantiocheilos. In its broadest use it covers any cartilaginous fish of Chondrichthyes.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of shark.

   He sharks unsuspecting newcomers out of their winnings at the billiard hall.

   She quietly sharks the regulars whenever a high-stakes game starts.

   Note

   Most of the verb's history has faded. Its senses of swindling, stealing by fraud and living by shifts and stratagems are now obsolete, and fishing for sharks is rare. Its one live use is British student slang, mildly derogatory, for pursuing a fresher for casual sex. In that use it takes an object or stands alone for cruising a bar or club. Because it shares a spelling with the plural noun, only the sentence tells them apart.

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