Mack·er·el n.  Zool. Any species of the genus Scomber of the family Scombridae, and of several related genera.  They are finely formed and very active oceanic fishes.  Most of them are highly prized for food.
 Note: ☞ The common mackerel (Scomber scombrus), which inhabits both sides of the North Atlantic, is one of the most important food fishes.  It is mottled with green and blue.  The Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus), of the American coast, is covered with bright yellow circular spots.
 Bull mackerel, Chub mackerel. Zool. See under Chub.
 Frigate mackerel. See under Frigate.
 Horse mackerel . See under Horse.
 Mackerel bird Zool., the wryneck; -- so called because it arrives in England at the time when mackerel are in season.
 Mackerel cock Zool., the Manx shearwater; -- so called because it precedes the appearance of the mackerel on the east coast of Ireland.
 Mackerel guide. Zool. See Garfish (a).
 Mackerel gull Zool. any one of several species of gull which feed upon or follow mackerel, as the kittiwake.
 Mackerel midge Zool., a very small oceanic gadoid fish of the North Atlantic.  It is about an inch and a half long and has four barbels on the upper jaw.  It is now considered the young of the genus Onos, or Motella.
 Mackerel plow, an instrument for creasing the sides of lean mackerel to improve their appearance. --Knight.
 Mackerel shark Zool., the porbeagle.
 Mackerel sky, or Mackerel-back sky, a sky flecked with small white clouds; a cirro-cumulus. See Cloud.
 Mackerel sky and mare's-tails
 Make tall ships carry low sails.   --Old Rhyme.

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 Span·ish a. Of or pertaining to Spain or the Spaniards.
 Spanish bayonet Bot., a liliaceous plant (Yucca alorifolia) with rigid spine-tipped leaves. The name is also applied to other similar plants of the Southwestern United States and mexico. Called also Spanish daggers.
 Spanish bean Bot. See the Note under Bean.
 Spanish black, a black pigment obtained by charring cork. --Ure.
 Spanish broom Bot., a leguminous shrub (Spartium junceum) having many green flexible rushlike twigs.
 Spanish brown, a species of earth used in painting, having a dark reddish brown color, due to the presence of sesquioxide of iron.
 Spanish buckeye Bot., a small tree (Ungnadia speciosa) of Texas, New Mexico, etc., related to the buckeye, but having pinnate leaves and a three-seeded fruit.
 Spanish burton Naut., a purchase composed of two single blocks. A double Spanish burton has one double and two single blocks. --Luce (Textbook of Seamanship).
 Spanish chalk Min., a kind of steatite; -- so called because obtained from Aragon in Spain.
 Spanish cress Bot., a cruciferous plant (Lepidium Cadamines), a species of peppergrass.
 Spanish curlew Zool., the long-billed curlew. [U.S.]
 Spanish daggers Bot. See Spanish bayonet.
 Spanish elm Bot., a large West Indian tree (Cordia Gerascanthus) furnishing hard and useful timber.
 Spanish feretto, a rich reddish brown pigment obtained by calcining copper and sulphur together in closed crucibles.
 Spanish flag Zool., the California rockfish (Sebastichthys rubrivinctus). It is conspicuously colored with bands of red and white.
 Spanish fly Zool., a brilliant green beetle, common in the south of Europe, used for raising blisters. See Blister beetle under Blister, and Cantharis.
 Spanish fox Naut., a yarn twisted against its lay.
 Spanish grass. Bot. See Esparto.
 Spanish juice Bot., licorice.
 Spanish leather. See Cordwain.
 Spanish mackerel. Zool. (a) A species of mackerel (Scomber colias) found both in Europe and America. In America called chub mackerel, big-eyed mackerel, and bull mackerel. (b) In the United States, a handsome mackerel having bright yellow round spots (Scomberomorus maculatus), highly esteemed as a food fish. The name is sometimes erroneously applied to other species. See Illust. under Mackerel.
 Spanish main, the name formerly given to the southern portion of the Caribbean Sea, together with the contiguous coast, embracing the route traversed by Spanish treasure ships from the New to the Old World.
 Spanish moss. Bot. See Tillandsia (and note at that entry).
 Spanish needles Bot., a composite weed (Bidens bipinnata) having achenia armed with needlelike awns.
 Spanish nut Bot., a bulbous plant (Iris Sisyrinchium) of the south of Europe.
 Spanish potato Bot., the sweet potato. See under Potato.
 Spanish red, an ocherous red pigment resembling Venetian red, but slightly yellower and warmer. --Fairholt.
 Spanish reef Naut., a knot tied in the head of a jib-headed sail.
 Spanish sheep Zool., a merino.
 Spanish white, an impalpable powder prepared from chalk by pulverizing and repeated washings, -- used as a white pigment.
 Spanish windlass Naut., a wooden roller, with a rope wound about it, into which a marline spike is thrust to serve as a lever.


 Scomberomorus maculatus
      n : a large commercially important mackerel of the Atlantic
          coastal waters of North America