herring

noun

her·ring | \ ˈher-iŋ ,

ˈhe-riŋ \

plural herring or herrings

Definition of herring

1 : either of two food fishes (genus Clupeus):

a : one (C. harengus) that is abundant in the temperate and colder parts of the North Atlantic and that in the adult state is preserved by smoking or salting and in the young state is extensively canned and sold as sardines

b : one (C. pallasi synonym C. h. pallasi) of the North Pacific harvested especially for its roe

2 : any of a large family (Clupeidae) of soft-finned bony fishes (such as the herrings, shads, sardines, and menhadens) that have a laterally compressed body and a forked tail and usually occur in schools

Examples of herring in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fish — especially fatty fish like salmon, tuna and herring — are high in omega-3s, a type of healthy fat. — Bianca Arney, baltimoresun.com, "Eating fish for your best health," 2 May 2018 His crewman untied the trap’s bait bag and tossed the sour-smelling herring remains into the water, where a flock of sea gulls scuffled. — New York Times, "Climate Change Brought a Lobster Boom. Now It Could Cause a Bust.," 21 June 2018 Lunch is generally light and includes rye bread, salads, fermented products, pickles, herrings and eggs. — Lisa Drayer, CNN, "What is the Nordic diet? (And why should you start eating it?)," 23 May 2018 The herring are frozen and sold throughout the year and the demand far exceeds the supply. — Laine Welch, Anchorage Daily News, "Upper Cook Inlet’s herring, smelt commercial fisheries pay big bucks to fishermen," 23 Apr. 2018 Although research is limited on this, Drew recommends consuming anti-inflammatory Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of fatty fish including salmon, tuna and herring, and also from walnuts and flaxseeds. — Lori Nickel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Chin Up: The body's second brain — the gut — and how to keep it healthy," 13 June 2018 Here's a selection of everyday items that could be impacted: • Seafood, including trout, eels, salmon, tuna, swordfish, herrings, cod, catfish, crabmeat, squid, claims. — Nathan Bomey, USA TODAY, "Taxing oxygen? It could happen. President Trump threatens wide-ranging tariffs on China," 11 July 2018 According to Live Science’s Laura Geggel, the archaeologists discovered evidence of a wide range of foods, including herring, eel, cod, apples, raspberries, cherries and rye bread. — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, "Archaeologists Unseal 17th-Century Danish Latrines to Discover Copenhageners’ Dietary Habits," 9 July 2018 There was the black five-inch slow roller shad, a chartreuse five-inch shad, the five-inch slow roller eels, a seven-inch herring prototype. — John Peabody, New York Times, "A Growing Brooklyn Fishing Scene, Artisanal Lures Included," 28 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'herring.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.