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# sardine

noun (a sardine, sardines)

«sardine» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A sardine is a small, silvery sea fish, often eaten from a tin. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#m1)
2. (idiom) «Packed like sardines» means squashed very tightly together. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#m2)

### In the lessons

In everyday life sardines come in tins, on toast. In science they swim in big shoals and are food for bigger animals. «Sardines» is also a children's hide-and-seek game where everyone squeezes into the hiding place. Phrases: «a tin of sardines», «packed like sardines».

### Examples

- We had sardines on toast for tea. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#x1)
- The bus was full; we were packed like sardines. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#x2)
- Dolphins chase shoals of sardines. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#x3)
- A tin holds 6 sardines; how many in 4 tins? (24) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#x4)
- At the party we played sardines. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#x5)
- Sardines are oily fish and are good for you. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#x6)
- In fact the wagon was so closely packed with boys of all ages that it looked like a box of sardines. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/#x7)

### Note

Countable: a sardine, sardines. «Sardines» is also the name of a game (no article: «play sardines»).

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «sardine» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sardine/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«sardine» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/sardine.html) on Mova free.