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fluke1

  (flūk) pronunciation
n.
  1. Any of various flatfishes, especially a flounder of the genus Paralichthys.
  2. See trematode.

[Middle English, from Old English flōc.]


fluke2 (flūk) pronunciation
n.
  1. Nautical. The triangular blade at the end of an arm of an anchor, designed to catch in the ground.
  2. A barb or barbed head, as on an arrow or a harpoon.
  3. Either of the two horizontally flattened divisions of the tail of a whale.

[Possibly from FLUKE1.]


fluke3 (flūk) pronunciation
n.
  1. A stroke of good luck.
  2. A chance occurrence; an accident.
  3. Games. An accidentally good or successful stroke in billiards or pool.

[Origin unknown.]


 
 

Small flatfish, Platichthys spp., also called flounder.

 
 
Antonyms: fluke

n

Definition: chance occurrence
Antonyms: certainty, design, plan


 

n. a broad triangular plate on the arm of an anchor.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

 

Liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica)
(click to enlarge)
Liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) (credit: Grant Heilman)
Any member of almost 6,000 species of parasitic flatworms. Flukes are found worldwide and range in size from about 0.2 to 4 in. (5 – 100 mm) long. They most commonly parasitize fish, frogs, and turtles, but also humans, domestic animals, and invertebrates such as mollusks and crustaceans. They include external parasites (ectoparasites), internal parasites (endoparasites), and semi-external parasites (those that attach to the lining of the mouth, to gills, or to the cloaca). Most flukes are flattened and leaflike or ribbonlike and have muscular suckers on the bottom surface, as well as hooks and spines, for attachment to the host. Fluke infestations may cause illness (e.g., schistosomiasis) or death in humans.

For more information on fluke, visit Britannica.com.

 
parasitic flatworm of the trematoda class, related to the tapeworm. Instead of the cilia, external sense organs, and epidermis of the free-living flatworms, adult flukes have sucking disks with which they cling to their hosts and an external cuticle that resists digestion by the host. In most species the adult worms absorb nutriment through the digestive system; in a few whose digestive system is reduced or completely absent, food is absorbed through the cuticle. Adult flukes are commonly hermaphroditic, that is, each individual possesses both male and female reproductive organs; however, they reproduce sexually. One worm may produce over 500,000 embryos. Species of the order Monogenea are external parasites on the skin and gills of fish; their simple life cycle is completed in a single host. The order Digenea includes the internal parasites, many of which have complicated life cycles, the various asexual stages living in mollusks and the sexual stages invading the internal organs of vertebrates; more than 35 species are known to inhabit humans. The human liver fluke, Clonorchis sinensis, has a life cycle that requires two intermediate hosts, snails and fish. The eggs pass out of humans via the feces. They survive if they are deposited in water and eaten by snails. The larvae invade the soft tissues of the snail from the digestive tract where they pass through several stages and reproduce asexually; they emerge from the snail as free-swimming larvae. If they manage to encounter fish, they penetrate into the flesh and encyst; if the raw fish is eaten by humans, the young flukes are released in the intestines. They then crawl up the bile duct, attach by their suckers, mature, reproduce sexually, and begin to shed eggs. In addition to the infestation of the liver by Clonorchis, which is prevalent in East Asia, many other disorders are caused by flukes. The Asian and African blood fluke disease, schistosomiasis, is caused by adults of the genus Schistosoma that burrow into the skin of humans and animals and lodge in the blood vessels. Lung flukes, common in East Asia, infest uncooked crab meat and encapsulate as adults in the lungs of humans. Liver rot, fatal to sheep and other herbivorous animals, is caused by a liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, whose larvae encyst in grasses after leaving the snail host. A species of fluke prevalent in lakes of the N central United States causes a rash called “swimmer's itch.” The name fluke is also applied to species of flatfish. Flukes are classified in the phylum Platyhelminthes, class Trematoda.


 
Wikipedia: fluke (disambiguation)

Fluke may refer to:


 

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - lykketræf, held
v. tr. - få ved et lykketræf

2.
n. - ikte

3.
n. - ankerflig

Nederlands (Dutch)
mazzel, platvis, platworm, ankerhaak, (walvis-)staartvin, harpoenhaak, soort aardappel, mazzel hebben

Français (French)
1.
n. - coup de chance
v. tr. - réussir par un coup de chance

2.
n. - (Zool) filet

3.
n. - (Naut) patte (d'une ancre), aile (d'ancre), nageoire (d'une baleine)

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Glücksfall
v. - (durch Zufall) treffen

2.
n. - Seezunge

3.
n. - Ankerhand

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (καθομ.) ρέντα, καλοτυχία, φάρδος, τύχη, τυχαία επιτυχία

Italiano (Italian)
passera nera, palma, punta, coda della balena, caso fortunato, colpo fortunato

Português (Portuguese)
n. - sorte (f) inesperada (coloq.)

Русский (Russian)
неожиданный удар, счастливая случайность, рог якоря, камбала

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - suerte, chiripa, churra
v. tr. - ganar por chiripa

2.
n. - platija

3.
n. - uña, lengüeta, oreja del ancla

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - levermask (zool.), flundra, njurformig potatis, ankarfly (sjö.), hulling på harpun o dyl., sidoflik på valstjärt, lyckträff (vard.)

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
1. 锚爪

2. 侥幸

3. 比目鱼

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 比目魚

2.
n. - 錨爪

3.
n. - 僥倖

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 뜻 밖의 행운
v. tr. - ~을 행운으로 이기다

2.
n. - 넙치 가자미 물고기

3.
n. - 닻의 갈고리

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 錨爪, かかり, 尾びれ, まぐれ当たり, 思いがけない幸運, 思わぬ幸運, 吸虫

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) السمك المفلطح‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כף העוגן, קרס הצלצל‬
n. - ‮הצלחה מקרית, מזל‬
n. - ‮טפיל, אחד משני פלגי זנב הלווייתן, תולעת‬


 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Fluke" Read more
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