Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large edible marine flatfish (Pleuronectes platessa) of European coastal waters.
  • noun Any of various other flatfishes, such as Hippoglossoides platessoides of northern Atlantic coastal waters.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fish of the family Pleuronectidæ and genus Pleuronectes, P. platessa.
  • noun Hence, by extension, any one of various flatfishes or flounders of the family Pleuronectidæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A European food fish (Pleuronectes platessa), allied to the flounder, and growing to the weight of eight or ten pounds or more.
  • noun A large American flounder (Paralichthys dentatus; called also brail, puckermouth, and summer flounder. The name is sometimes applied to other allied species.
  • noun [R.] a mouth like that of a plaice; a small or wry mouth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The large marine flatfish, Pleuronectes platessa, commonly found in the North Sea and Irish Sea, with smooth brown skin and red or orange spots.
  • noun The flatfish, Hippoglossoides platessoides, of the North American Atlantic; American plaice.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun large European food fish
  • noun flesh of large European flatfish

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French plais, from Vulgar Latin *platīx, alteration of Late Latin platessa, probably ultimately from Greek platus, broad; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French plaiz, from Late Latin platessa, from Ancient Greek πλατύς ("broad").

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Examples

  • Last Thursday there was a new one in plaice: Huw Irranca-Davies.

    House Points: The future of fishing 2008

  • Last Thursday there was a new one in plaice: Huw Irranca-Davies.

    Archive 2008-11-01 2008

  • The plaice were the only ones which had not to be cut open.

    Chatterbox, 1905. Various

  • It always ends in my having plaice, which is good for the soul!

    The Altar Steps Compton MacKenzie 1927

  • Margate and Long Sands in Kent, Red Bay in Northern Ireland and North Norfolk sand banks act as nursery grounds for many commercial fish species such as plaice and sole whilst also supporting sand eel communities that are a food source for seabirds, porpoises and seals.

    Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • Sandbanks act as nursery grounds for many commercial fish species such as plaice and sole whilst also supporting sand eel communities that are a food source for seabirds and mammals such as seals, it said.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2010

  • Collection Sauvignon Blanc as an ideal partner for shellfish and delicate fish such as plaice, sole and skate, and also goes well with asparagus and avocado.

    Rss news feed for Morning Advertiser 2010

  • 'plaice' and extra 'place,' at which he laughed heartily, Mark considered the most tactful way of leading up to a discussion of the position of the Anglican Church in regard to Roman claims.

    The Altar Steps Compton MacKenzie 1927

  • And I can't tell one bit of difference between codfish and plaice.

    Hiccup Susan Rukeyser 2011

  • I'm sorry to carp on, but surely there's a time and plaice for this sort of language.

    Letters: Hook, line … stinkers 2011

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