noun
small usually brightly-colored viviparous surface-feeding fishes of fresh or brackish warm waters; often used in mosquito control
• Syn: ↑topminnow, ↑poeciliid fish, ↑live-bearer
• Hypernyms: ↑cypriniform fish
• Hyponyms: ↑mosquitofish, ↑Gambusia affinis, ↑platy, ↑Platypoecilus maculatus, ↑mollie, ↑molly
• Member Holonyms: ↑Poeciliidae, ↑family Poeciliidae
* * *
I. \\pēˈsilēə̇d\ adjectiveEtymology: New Latin Poeciliidae
: of or relating to the Poeciliidae
II. noun
(-s)
: a fish of the family Poeciliidae
* * *
/pee sil"ee id/, n.
1. any small New World fish of the family Poeciliidae, of fresh or brackish tropical and temperate waters, including the mosquitofish, guppies, and mollies.
adj.
2. belonging or pertaining to the family Poeciliidae.
[ < NL Poeciliidae, equiv. to Poecili(a) name of genus ( < Gk poikilía striped, marked with various colors) + -idae -ID2]
Useful english dictionary. 2012.