Halibut

//ˈhæ.lɪ.bət// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A large flatfish of the genus Hippoglossus, which sometimes leaves the ocean floor and swims vertically.

    "[...] she frowned a displeased frown and told me for heaven's sake to stop goggling like a dead halibut."

  2. 2
    marine food fish of the northern Atlantic or northern Pacific; the largest flatfish and one of the largest teleost fishes wordnet
  3. 3
    lean flesh of very large flatfish of Atlantic or Pacific wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
fishhatfishholibut

Example

More examples

"They eat half of the world's halibut."

Etymology

From Middle English *halibutt, equivalent to holy + but (“flatfish”), since the fish was often eaten on holy days. Cognate with Dutch heilbot, German Heiligbutt, Heilbutt, Heilbutte, Danish helleflynder, Swedish helgeflundra, and Norwegian Nynorsk hellefisk.

Related phrases

Atlantic halibutCalifornia halibutGreenland halibutMonterey halibutPacific halibutbastard halibuthaliver oil

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.