swordfish Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun flesh of swordfish usually served as steaks
  2. noun large toothless marine food fish with a long swordlike upper jaw; not completely cold-blooded i.e. they are able to warm their brains and eyes: worldwide in warm waters but feed on cold ocean floor coming to surface at night
    Xiphias gladius.

WordNet

Sword"fish` noun
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) (a) A very large oceanic fish (Xiphias gladius), the only representative of the family Xiphiidæ. It is highly valued as a food fish. The bones of the upper jaw are consolidated, and form a long, rigid, swordlike beak; the dorsal fin is high and without distinct spines; the ventral fins are absent. The adult is destitute of teeth. It becomes sixteen feet or more long. (b) The ger pike. (c) The cutlass fish.
  2. (Astron.) A southern constellation. See Dorado, 1.

Webster 1913