eek2 (ek)

i. [A dial. var. of itch or yuck: see itch, yuck.] To itch. [Prov. Eng.] eeket, v., adv., and conj. An obsolete form of eke. eel (el), n. [Early mod. E. also cele; scales, chiefly arranged diagonally to the axis and at right angles with one another, but immersed in the skin, and partly concealed by a slippery mucous coat. The head is somewhat depre ed, and the lower jaw protuberant. The teeth are slender, conic, and crowded in small bands in both jaws and in a longitudinal band on the vomer. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are nearly uniform, and completely united into one, the dorsal beginning near the second third of the entire length of the body. The color is generally brownish or blackish, except on the belly, which is whitish or silvery. The females attain a considerably larger size than the males. The sexual organs are minute except in the breeding season, and sexual intercourse takes place in the sea. Young females ascend into fresh water, but the males remain in salt water, and have rarely been seen; and when full-grown the females return to the sea for sexual intercourse and spawning. Eels are of much economic importance, and objects of special fisheries. The common European species is Anguilla anguilla or A. vulgar is; the American is A. rostrata. See Anguilla, Anguillidæ . IMG:content-0227.png:[blocks in formation] It is agreed by most men that the eel is a most dainty 1. Walton, Complete Angler, i. 23. fish. 2. Any fish of the order Apodes or Symbranchii, of which there are many families and several hundred species.-3. Some fish resembling or likened to an eel; an anguilliform fish.-4. Some small nematoid or threadworm, as of the family Anguillulidæ, found in vinegar, sour paste, etc. See vinegar - eel, and cut under Nema toidea. Blind eel, a bunch of eel-gra or marsh-gra . [Colloq., Chesapeake Bay, U. S.] - Electric eel, a remark Electric Eel (Electrophorus electric us). eelskin able fish, Electrophorus or Gym not us electric us, of the family Electro pho ride, of a thick, eel-like form with a rounded, finle back, the vent at the throat, and the anal fin commencing behind it, of a brownish color above and whitish below. It has the power of giving strong electric discharges at will. The shocks produced are often violent, and serve as a means both of offense and of defense. They are weakened by frequent repetitions. Its electrical apparatus consists of two pairs of longitudinal bodies between the skin and the muscles of the caudal region, one pair next to the back and one along the anal fin. This apparatus is divided into about 240 cells, and is supplied by over 200 nerves. The electric eel is the most powerful of electric fishes. It sometimes attains a length of over 6 feet. It inhabits the fresh waters of Brazil and Guiana.- Pug-nosed eel, an eel of the genus Simenchelys (which see): so called by fishermen. It is a deep-sea species, found off the Newfoundland banks, often burrowing in the halibut, whence the specific name S. parasitic us. Salt eel. (a) An eel or an eel's skin prepared for use as a whip. Up betimes, and with my salt eele went down in the parler, and there got my boy and did beat him til I was faine to take breath two or three times. Pepys , Diary, April 24, 1663. Hence-(b) A rope's end; a flogging. [Nautical slang.] Trembling for fear, Lest from Bridport they get such another salt eel As brave Duncan prepared for Mynheer. Dibdin, A Salt Eel for Mynheer. eel-basket (ēl'bás ket), n. A basket for catch IMG:content-0228.png:[blocks in formation] Eel- bucks that are intended to catch the sharp-nosed or frog-mouthed eels are set against the stream, and are set at night, as those two descriptions of eels feed and run only at night. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXIX. 258. eeleator, n. [E. dial.] A young eel. [Local, Eng. (North umber land).] Fele! Eeleaator ! cast your tail intiv a knot, and awl throw you into the waater. Quoted in Brockett's Glo ary. eelfare (ēl'far), n . [ eel + fare , a going. Hence by corruption elver , q. v.] 1. In the Thames valley, the migration of young eels up the river. -2. A fry or brood of eels. [Prov. Eng. in both senses.]