from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A small, herringlike marine fish of the family Engraulidae, especially the European fish (Engraulis encrasicholus), widely used in appetizers and various dishes.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Any small saltwater fish of the Engraulidae family, consisting of 160 species in 16 genera, of which the genus Engraulis is widely sold as food.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A small fish, about three inches in length, of the Herring family (Engraulis encrasicholus), caught in vast numbers in the Mediterranean, and pickled for exportation. The name is also applied to several allied species.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An abdominal malacopterygious fish, of the genus Stolephorus or Engraulis, family Stolephoridæ.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. tiny fishes usually canned or salted; used for hors d'oeuvres or as seasoning in sauces
- n. small herring-like plankton-eating fishes often canned whole or as paste; abundant in tropical waters worldwide
Spanish anchova, possibly from Vulgar Latin *apiuva, ultimately from Greek aphuē.(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
From Spanish anchova, perhaps ultimately from Basque. (Wiktionary)