herring
part of speech
noun (a herring, herring or herrings)
meaning for a pupil
1) A herring is a small silver fish that lives in big groups in the North Atlantic and other cold seas. tree →
2) Herring is also the fish eaten as food, often smoked (a kipper) or pickled. tree →
3) A red herring is a clue or fact that leads you the wrong way, on purpose or by accident. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science, herring are an example of a fish that swims in shoals and is eaten by seals, whales and seabirds — a link in a food chain. In history, herring fishing made many coastal towns rich. In stories and mysteries, «a red herring» is a false clue that distracts the reader or detective. In maths problems, a red herring is a number in the question that you do not need. Phrases: «a shoal of herring», «pickled herring», «red herring», «packed like herrings».
examples
- A shoal of herring flashed silver in the sea. tree →
- Grandad eats pickled herring on toast. tree →
- A smoked herring is called a kipper. tree →
- Puffins and seals eat herring. tree →
- The muddy footprint was a red herring; the thief came in through the window. tree →
- This word problem has a red herring: the age of the bus driver does not matter. tree →
- The fishing boats came back full of herring. tree →
note
Plural: «herring» or «herrings»; «herring» is common for fish in the sea and as food. «Red herring» is an idiom: it is not a real red fish. In maths word problems, look out for red herrings — extra numbers you should not use.
In the corpora
- Young gulls are brown and speckled; a herring gull takes about four years to look fully grown up.
- Answering a different question to dodge the real one is called a red herring; good interviewers ask the question again.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «herring» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.