minnow

noun

min·now | \ ˈmi-(ˌ)nō

plural minnows also minnow

Definition of minnow

1a : a small cyprinid, killifish, or topminnow

b : any of various small fish that are less than a designated size and are not game fish

2 : a live or artificial minnow used as bait

Examples of minnow in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Still after just seven weeks, the male minnows were producing high levels of a protein that helps make eggs in female fish. — Rachael Moeller Gorman, Good Housekeeping, "Is Your Tap Water Safe?," 15 Aug. 2012 Casting floating jerk baits, suspending crankbaits, or working jig and minnow combos along shallow rocky shorelines after dark are good tactics during the walleye spawn. — Tyler Mahoney Special To The Star Tyler Mahoney,, kansascity, "Fishing report: Things have been slow because of weather | The Kansas City Star," 11 Apr. 2018 These days, commercially available minnow traps are almost all made of wire or plastic. — C.j. Chivers, Popular Mechanics, "Meet the Man Glassblowing These Gorgeous Retro Fishing Lures," 26 Apr. 2016 The bluegills are hitting tiny jigs tipped with maggots or waxworms, while the perch prefer emerald shiner minnows. — cleveland.com, "Fishing Report Jan. 19: Cleveland Harbor ice anglers hooking trout, perch," 19 Jan. 2018 Until very recently, Western Europe looked a lot like the United States, with Samsung commanding more than a third of the market, Apple in a close second spot, and minnows picking up the scraps. — Vlad Savov, The Verge, "Despite being shunned in America, Huawei is flourishing in Europe," 22 Aug. 2018 These minnows enrich larger predatory outfitters selling kits and infrastructure. — Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, "How to win (or at least not lose) the war on phishing? Enlist machine learning," 7 Aug. 2018 Striper fishing is very good in the Colusa area, with jumbo minnows working best, along with swimbaits. — sacbee, "Fishing line: Sacramento River sees plenty of stripers and shad | The Sacramento Bee," 30 Apr. 2018 Drift with minnows or slow-troll jigs in Lake Yale. — Mark Blythe, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Fishing forecast: Feb. 17, 2018," 16 Feb. 2018

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