skipjack
/ˈskɪpdʒak
/noun
1 (also skipjack tuna) A small tuna with dark horizontal stripes, widely distributed throughout tropical and temperate seas. Also called bonito or oceanic bonito.
- Katsuwonus (or Euthynnus) pelamis, family Scombridae.
- Skipjack is said to be very healthy and robust, and skipjack tuna is targeted mainly by the long line and the purse seine fishery.
- There, the commercial fishermen patiently wait every year for the annual migrations of albacore, skipjack, yellowfin, big-eye and bluefin.
2 another term for click beetle.
3A sloop-rigged sailing boat of a kind used off the east coast of the US.Their motor-less sailing boats are called skipjacks, and are allowed to fish for oysters freely....
- The backyard slopes down to a cold blue finger of Puget Sound, where Miller keeps his favorite toys - a skipjack, two kayaks, and a 47-foot yacht.
- In the winter, many of the local watermen use hydraulic tongs to catch oysters, and a few skipjack boats continue to work out of Wenona harbor.
Origin
Early 18th century: from the verb skip1 + jack1. sense 1 is from the fish's habit of jumping out of the water; sense 2, sense 3 arose in the 19th century.