SH'ARK, noun [Latin carcharius; Gr. from sharp.]

1. A voracious fish of the genus Squalus, of several species. The body is oblong, tapering and rough, and some species have several rows of serrated teeth. The largest grow to the length of thirty feet.

2. A greedy artful fellow; one who fills his pockets by sly tricks. [Low.]

3. Trick; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark. [Little used.]

4. In New England, one that lives by shifts, contrivance or stratagem.

SH'ARK, verb transitive To pick up hastily, slily or in small quantities. [Low.]

SH'ARK, verb intransitive

1. To play the petty thief; or rather to live by shifts and petty stratagems. [In New England, the common pronunciation is shurk, but the word rarely implies fraud.]

2. To cheat; to trick. [Low.]

3. To fawn upon for a dinner; to beg.

To shark out, to slip out or escape by low artifices. [Vulgar.]