Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various brightly colored tropical marine fishes of the family Acanthuridae, having a laterally compressed body with one or more sharp erectile spines near the base of the tail, and often kept in home aquariums.

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

  • noun Any of many brightly coloured fishes, of the family Acanthuridae, that have an erect spine near the tail

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

  • noun brightly colored coral-reef fish with knifelike spines at the tail

Etymologies

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

[From its lancetlike spines, which resemble surgeons' instruments.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

surgeon +‎ fish

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