sardine

plural sardines

1. Any one of several species of small herring which are commonly preserved in olive oil or in tins for food, especially the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus, syn. Clupea pilchardus). The American sardines of the Atlantic coast are mostly the young of the Atlantic herring and of the menhaden, and many canned sardines in America are sprats.

   Near-synonym: pilchard (broad sense)

   1 more example

   They feasted on premium sardines packed in olive oil, as did their hunting dogs, who insisted on joining the meal.

   Synonyms: pilchard

2. figurativelySomeone packed or crammed into a small space.

   They watched bemused as countless sardines disgorged from a railway car that was never designed to hold so many passengers.

present singular third person sardines · participle present sardining · participle past sardined · past sardined

1. intransitiveliterallyTo fish for sardines.

   No one on Monhegan says they saw them, but a man sardining says he saw it headed there, or at least some boat with people atop it.

   1997, Peter Landesman, The raven: a novel

2. broadlyfigurativelytransitiveto pack or cram together tightly.

   There were already six members of the Nureyev family living in a room sixteen meters square, the children sardined on one mattress on the floor, their parents separated by only a curtain.

   2007, Julie Kavanagh, Nureyev: The Life

   2 more examples

   Six-foot- four McMichael (a past master at the art of sardining) not only crammed enough clothes for the trip into the mighty midget, but carried a full set of golf clubs and a banjo, as well!

   1954, Tom McCahill, The modern sports car

   Would it be unbearably elitist to suggest that they would be more enjoyable still if the director removed a row or two of chairs, instead of sardining as many listeners as possible into the intimate music room?

   1986, The New Yorker - Volumen 62

plural sardines

1. obsoleteCarnelian.
2. Dark-brown sard.

comparative more sardine · superlative most sardine

1. Characteristic of a sardius.

   And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 4:3

plural Sardines

1. A member of the Italian grassroots political movement organized to protest against the right-wing surge in the country and the political rhetoric of Matteo Salvini.

   A new grassroots movement called ‘sardines’ is fighting against Italy's rightwing strongman Matteo Salvini across the nation after a spectacular launch in Bologna last week.

   2019 November 20, “‘Sardines’ fight Salvini across Italy”, in ANSAmed, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019

   3 more examples

   But they might need more than prayer to effectively compete with the Sardines, who in the last month have packed themselves tightly in ever-increasing numbers into piazzas in city after Italian city.

   2019 December 13, Angela Giuffrida, “Sardines squeeze into Italian cities for biggest anti-Salvini protests yet”, in The Guardian

   The nonpartisan “Sardines” movement organized mass protests against the reemergence of the far right in Italy and re-energized politics in the run up to the regional elections that were held in Emilia Romagna in January.

   2020 March 19, Erik Jones, “Italians are taking real steps to fight the coronavirus — but big political challenges are lurking”, in Washington Post

   As demonstrated by the mobilizations that have taken place in recent months, as in the case of the Sardine, the invisibles of Aboubakahr as well as the Friday’s For Future or anti-racist movements, the involvement of political institutions is almost non-existent. ¶ In Italy, active participation is in fact not supported by political parties.

   2020 November 16, Camilla Valerio, “A comparison of political mobilization in Italy and the US”, in Italics Magazine