herring

American

[her-ing] / ˈhɛr ɪŋ /

noun

plural

herring,

plural

herrings

an important food fish, Clupea harengus harengus, found in enormous shoals in the North Atlantic.
a similar fish, Clupea harengus pallasii, of the North Pacific.
any fish of the family Clupeidae, including herrings, shads, and sardines.
any of various fishes resembling the herring but of unrelated families.

herring British

/ ˈhɛrɪŋ /

noun

any marine soft-finned teleost fish of the family Clupeidae, esp Clupea harengus, an important food fish of northern seas, having an elongated body covered, except in the head region, with large fragile silvery scales

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

herring Idioms

see dead as a doornail (herring); red herring.

Other Word Forms

herringlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of herring

before 900; Middle English hering, Old English hǣring; cognate with German Häring

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Just recall, though, that “This time is different” is a notorious red herring.

From Barron's

In an email over the weekend, he wrote that attributing Friday’s drop to Warsh’s nomination is a “red herring.”

From MarketWatch

Red herrings pop up and disappear, a climactic series of revelations indicates hidden villainy, and every detail feels ho-hum.

From The Wall Street Journal

A piece of herring—pickled, stewed or fried—constituted a weekday treat.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023