fin Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
    quintet; quintuplet; quint; Little Phoebe; cinque; fivesome; 5; Phoebe; V; five; pentad.
  2. noun one of a pair of decorations projecting above the rear fenders of an automobile
    tail fin; tailfin.
  3. noun one of a set of parallel slats in a door or window to admit air and reject rain
    louver; louvre.
  4. noun a shoe for swimming; the paddle-like front is an aid in swimming (especially underwater)
    flipper.
  5. noun a stabilizer on a ship that resembles the fin of a fish
  6. noun organ of locomotion and balance in fishes and some other aquatic animals
  7. verb equip (a car) with fins
  8. verb propel oneself through the water in a finning motion
  9. verb show the fins above the water while swimming
    break water.
    • The sharks were finning near the surface

WordNet

Fin transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. Fin of a fish.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Finned ; present participle & verbal noun Finning
Definitions
  1. To carve or cut up, as a chub.
Fin noun
Etymology
See Fine, n.
Definitions
  1. End; conclusion; object. Obs. "She knew eke the fin of his intent." Chaucer.
Fin noun
Etymology
OE. finne, fin, AS. finn; akin to D. vin, G. & Dan. finne, Sw. fena, L. pinna, penna, a wing, feather. cf. pen a feather.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) An organ of a fish, consisting of a membrane supported by rays, or little bony or cartilaginous ossicles, and serving to balance and propel it in the water. ✍ Fishes move through the water chiefly by means of the caudal fin or tail, the principal office of the other fins being to balance or direct the body, though they are also, to a certain extent, employed in producing motion.
  2. (Zoöl.) A membranous, finlike, swimming organ, as in pteropod and heteropod mollusks.
  3. A finlike organ or attachment; a part of an object or product which protrudes like a fin, as: (a) The hand. Slang (b) (Com.) A blade of whalebone. Eng. McElrath. (c) (Mech.) A mark or ridge left on a casting at the junction of the parts of a mold. (d) (Mech.) The thin sheet of metal squeezed out between the collars of the rolls in the process of rolling. Raymond. (e) (Mech.) A feather; a spline.
  4. A finlike appendage, as to submarine boats.

Webster 1913