What is "pickerel"

Sauger \Sau"ger\, n. (Zo["o]l.) An American fresh-water food fish ( Stizostedion Canadense); -- called also gray pike, blue pike, hornfish, land pike, sand pike, pickering, and pickerel.

Pike \Pike\, n. [F. pique; perhaps of Celtic origin; cf. W. pig a prick, a point, beak, Arm. pik pick. But cf. also L. picus woodpecker (see Pie magpie), and E. spike. Cf. Pick, n. & v., Peak, Pique.]

1. (Mil.) A foot soldier's weapon, consisting of a long wooden shaft or staff, with a pointed steel head. It is now superseded by the bayonet.

2. A pointed head or spike; esp., one in the center of a shield or target.
   --Beau. & Fl.

3. A hayfork. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
   --Tusser.

4. A pick. [Prov. Eng.]
   --Wright. Raymond.

5. A pointed or peaked hill. [R.]

6. A large haycock. [Prov. Eng.]
   --Halliwell.

7. A turnpike; a toll bar.
   --Dickens.

8. (Zo["o]l.) sing. & pl. A large fresh-water fish ( Esox lucius), found in Europe and America, highly valued as a food fish; -- called also pickerel, gedd, luce, and jack.

   Note: Blue pike, grass pike, green pike, wall-eyed pike, and yellow pike, are names, not of true pike, but of the wall-eye. See Wall-eye.

   Gar pike. See under Gar.

   Pike perch (Zo["o]l.), any fresh-water fish of the genus Stizostedion (formerly Lucioperca). See Wall-eye, and Sauger.

   Pike pole, a long pole with a pike in one end, used in directing floating logs.

   Pike whale (Zo["o]l.), a finback whale of the North Atlantic ( Bal[ae]noptera rostrata), having an elongated snout; -- called also piked whale.

   Sand pike (Zo["o]l.), the lizard fish.

   Sea pike (Zo["o]l.), the garfish (a) .

"young pike," late 13c., diminutive of pike, the fish (see pike (n.3)), with French pejorative suffix -rel; perhaps formed in Anglo-French.

n. 1 A freshwater fish of the genus ''Esox''. 2 (label en Canada) walleye, A species of gamefish, (taxlink Sander vitreus species noshow=1), native to the Northern U.S. and Canada with pale, reflective eyes.

1. n. flesh of young or small pike

2. any of several North American species of small pike

Pickerel may refer to:

• Esox, genus of fish commonly known as the pickerels
• American pickerel
• Chain pickerel
• Walleye, particularly in Canada
• Pickerel Frog
• Pickerel, Wisconsin

Three ships of the United States Navy have used the name USS Pickerel:

• , F-class submarine originally laid down as USS Pickerel but renamed prior to her 1912 launch

• , Porpoise-class submarine, launched in 1936 and lost in 1943 under unknown circumstances

• , Tench-class submarine, launched in 1944 and stricken in 1977