rainbow trout

noun

: a large stout-bodied salmonid fish (Oncorhynchus mykiss synonym Salmo gairdneri) of western North America that is related to the Pacific salmon and is typically greenish above and white on the belly with a pink, red, or lavender stripe along each side of the body and with profuse black dots compare steelhead

Illustration of rainbow trout

Examples of rainbow trout in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The formation, known as the Sinks, spits the river back out at another feature called the Rise a quarter of a mile east, a little more voluminous and a little warmer, with brown and rainbow trout weighing as much as 10 pounds mingling in its now smooth pools. —Ars Technica, 31 Oct. 2024

For avid hunters, Sheep Creek is ideal for waterfowl hunting, ducks, turkey, deer, and geese, plus ponds stocked with mature rainbow trout. —Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 28 Oct. 2024

Please don’t create your own dams as this harms efforts to reestablish rainbow trout in the river; if a friend builds a dam, please take it down before leaving. —Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2024

Although Upper Klamath Lake was known for unusually huge rainbow trout, some two feet long, that attracted anglers in droves, little thought was given to the Chinook salmon that had once thrived in the Klamath River but were no longer seen so far upstream. —Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

rainbow trout

noun

: a large trout native to western North America that usually has red or pink stripes with black dots on its sides compare steelhead