any of various herring-like food fishes of the genus Alosa and related genera, such as A. alosa (allis shad) of Europe, that migrate from the sea to freshwater to spawn: family Clupeidae (herrings)
2.
any of various similar but unrelated fishes
Word origin
Old English sceadd; related to Norwegian skadd, German Schade shad, Old Irish scatān herring, Latin scatēre to well up
shad in American English
(ʃæd)
nounWord forms: pluralshad or shads
any of various marine or freshwater clupeid fishes
; esp.,
a.
an American coastal food fish (Alosa sapidissima)
b.
a species (Dorosoma cepedianum) widely introduced into fresh waters of the U.S. as food for other fish
Word origin
OE sceadd, akin to Norw dial. skadd, prob. < IE base *skēt-, to leap, spring up