squids

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of squid.

   Giant squids are rarely seen alive at the surface.

   The Marines at the next table kept calling the sailors squids.

   Note

   Two plurals compete for the sea animals. Squids is the regular one, but English also uses squid unchanged, especially for a catch or for food, as in a net full of squid. For the slang meanings squids is the natural plural, so the sailors Marines tease and the reckless riders on sport bikes are always squids, never squid.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of squid.

   He squids for striped bass from a small skiff at the mouth of the bay.

   When a canopy squids, its sides fold inward and pulse instead of filling with air.

   Note

   The form follows he, she or it and belongs to two unrelated verbs: an angler squids with a hook dressed to look like a squid, and a parachute squids when its sides fold in and it fills only partly. Beside the plural noun it is the less common reading, so squids as a verb turns up mainly in fishing and skydiving talk.

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