Definitions

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

  • noun An edible Eurasian freshwater fish (Tinca tinca) having small scales and two barbels near the mouth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A penitentiary.
  • noun A cyprinoid fish of Europe, Tinca vulgaris.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) A European fresh-water fish (Tinca tinca, or Tinca vulgaris) allied to the carp. It is noted for its tenacity of life.

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

  • noun A species of freshwater game fish, Tinca tinca.
  • adjective slang excellent performance in a tense situation.

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

  • noun freshwater dace-like game fish of Europe and western Asia noted for ability to survive outside water

Etymologies

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

[Middle English tenche, from Old French, from Late Latin tinca, probably of Celtic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French tenche < Late Latin tinca.

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