tunny Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun important warm-water fatty fish of the genus Thunnus of the family Scombridae; usually served as steaks
    tuna; tuna fish.
  2. noun any very large marine food and game fish of the genus Thunnus; related to mackerel; chiefly of warm waters
    tuna.

WordNet

Tun"ny noun
Etymology
L. thunnus, thynnus, Gr. , : cf. It. tonno, F. & Pr. thon.
Wordforms
plural Tunnies
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of large oceanic fishes belonging to the Mackerel family, especially the common or great tunny (Orcynus ∨ Albacora thynnus) native of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It sometimes weighs a thousand pounds or more, and is extensively caught in the Mediterranean. On the American coast it is called horse mackerel. See Illust. of Horse mackerel, under Horse. Written also thynny. ✍ The little tunny (Gymnosarda alletterata) of the Mediterranean and North Atlantic, and the long-finned tunny, or albicore (see Albicore), are related species of smaller size.

Webster 1913