any of several large scombroid food and game fishes of the genera Makaira, Istiompax, and Tetrapturus, of warm and tropical seas, having a very long upper jaw: family Istiophoridae
Also called: spearfish
Word origin
C20: from marlinespike; with allusion to the shape of the beak
marlin in American English
(ˈmɑrlɪn)
nounWord forms: pluralˈmarlin or ˈmarlins
any of several large, slender, deep-sea billfishes, esp. a bluish species (Makaira nigricans)