Mat·to·wac·ca n.  Zool. An American clupeoid fish (Clupea mediocris), similar to the shad in habits and appearance, but smaller and less esteemed for food; -- called also hickory shad, tailor shad, fall herring, and shad herring.
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 Shad n. sing. & pl.  Zool. Any one of several species of food fishes of the Herring family. The American species (Alosa sapidissima formerly Clupea sapidissima), which is abundant on the Atlantic coast and ascends the larger rivers in spring to spawn, is an important market fish. The European allice shad, or alose (Alosa alosa  formerly Clupea alosa), and the twaite shad (Alosa finta  formerly Clupea finta), are less important species. [Written also chad.]
 Note: ☞ The name is loosely applied, also, to several other fishes, as the gizzard shad (see under Gizzard), called also mud shad, white-eyed shad, and winter shad.
 Hardboaded shad, or  Yellow-tailed shad, the menhaden.
 Hickory shad, or  Tailor shad, the mattowacca.
 Long-boned shad, one of several species of important food fishes of the Bermudas and the West Indies, of the genus Gerres.
 Shad bush Bot., a name given to the North American shrubs or small trees of the rosaceous genus Amelanchier (Amelanchier Canadensis, and Amelanchier alnifolia).  Their white racemose blossoms open in April or May, when the shad appear, and the edible berries (pomes) ripen in June or July, whence they are called Juneberries.  The plant is also called service tree, and Juneberry.
 Shad frog, an American spotted frog (Rana halecina); -- so called because it usually appears at the time when the shad begin to run in the rivers.
 Trout shad, the squeteague.
 White shad, the common shad.
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 Fall, n.
 1. The act of falling; a dropping or descending be the force of gravity; descent; as, a fall from a horse, or from the yard of ship.
 2. The act of dropping or tumbling from an erect posture; as, he was walking on ice, and had a fall.
 3. Death; destruction; overthrow; ruin.
    They thy fall conspire.   --Denham.
    Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.   --Prov. xvi. 18.
 4. Downfall; degradation; loss of greatness or office; termination of greatness, power, or dominion; ruin; overthrow; as, the fall of the Roman empire.
    Beholds thee glorious only in thy fall.   --Pope.
 5. The surrender of a besieged fortress or town ; as, the fall of Sebastopol.
 6. Diminution or decrease in price or value; depreciation; as, the fall of prices; the fall of rents.
 7. A sinking of tone; cadence; as, the fall of the voice at the close of a sentence.
 8. Declivity; the descent of land or a hill; a slope.
 9. Descent of water; a cascade; a cataract; a rush of water down a precipice or steep; -- usually in the plural, sometimes in the singular; as, the falls of Niagara.
 10. The discharge of a river or current of water into the ocean, or into a lake or pond; as, the fall of the Po into the Gulf of Venice.
 11. Extent of descent; the distance which anything falls; as, the water of a stream has a fall of five feet.
 12. The season when leaves fall from trees; autumn.
 What crowds of patients the town doctor kills,
 Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills.   --Dryden.
 13. That which falls; a falling; as, a fall of rain; a heavy fall of snow.
 14. The act of felling or cutting down. “The fall of timber.”
 15. Lapse or declension from innocence or goodness. Specifically: The first apostasy; the act of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit; also, the apostasy of the rebellious angels.
 16. Formerly, a kind of ruff or band for the neck; a falling band; a faule.
 17. That part (as one of the ropes) of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting.
 Fall herring Zool., a herring of the Atlantic (Clupea mediocris); -- also called tailor herring, and hickory shad.
 To try a fall, to try a bout at wrestling. --Shak.
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 Hick·o·ry n.  Bot. An American tree of the genus Carya, of which there are several species.  The shagbark is the Carya alba, and has a very rough bark; it affords the hickory nut of the markets.  The pignut, or brown hickory, is the Carya glabra.  The swamp hickory is Carya amara, having a nut whose shell is very thin and the kernel bitter.
 Hickory shad. Zool. (a) The mattowacca, or fall herring. (b) The gizzard shad.
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