Flukes

In the livers of sick sheep were lodged parasites in the shape of leaves, called flukes after their resemblance to flounder floc in Anglo-Saxon. ❋ Carl Zimmer (2009)

"There go flukes!" cried the look-out as the whale dived and tossed its flukes, that is its tail, in the air, not more than a mile on the lee-bow; "she's heading right for the ship." ❋ Unknown (1859)

Trematode worms - or "flukes" - commonly afflict mollusks today, and these invaders often use mollusks as intermediate hosts in their life cycles. ❋ Brian Switek (2011)

Worms in sheep called flukes are owing to the dilute state of the bile; hence they originate in the intestines, and thence migrate into the biliary ducts, and corroding the liver produce ulcers, cough, and hectic fever, called the rot. ❋ Erasmus Darwin (1766)

'flukes' -- Lord Chelford joked, Wylder 'chaffed,' even Lake seemed to enjoy himself; and the game proceeded with animation and no lack of laughter, beguiling the watches of the night; and we were all amazed, at length, to find how very late it was. ❋ Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1843)

Some organisms, such as flukes, have life cycles that take them literally through one or more host organisms, and many insects undergo significant metamorphic changes in bodily form through their life cycle. ❋ Wilson, Robert A. (2007)

Whales have lost the hind limbs altogether and developed the forelegs into fingerless flippers, whilst the tail is provided with "flukes" like the fins of a fish's tail in shape, but horizontal instead of vertical. ❋ Unknown (1888)

He was not successful in his early life at home, where business is a harder ordeal, and with fewer of the "flukes" that cross the path in young colonies. ❋ William Westgarth (1852)

I have not seen one of those gentlemen show his "flukes," as they call them, since I was a boy on the Cornish coast. ❋ Charles Kingsley (1847)

Toyota has Top safety ratings, "flukes" happen ... ❋ Unknown (2010)

Granted, the injuries were "flukes" or "one-offs", but the very nature of Band-Aid Boys is their ability to have five or six "one-off" injuries in their career. ❋ Dobber (2010)

Humpbacks have big tail fins called "flukes," which are spotted and ridged. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Eosinophils typically combat parasitic invaders of the human body larger than bacteria or viruses, such as flukes or parasitic worms (collectively known as helminths). ❋ Unknown (2008)

But the very modest golfer described all the shots as mere 'flukes'. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Not that Cowen's two 'flukes' helped him to win any of the competitions that he was involved with last week. ❋ Unknown (2008)

As a result, they are often discounted as 'flukes' or 'outliers' rather than proof of the academic abilities of their students. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Let's get back to the "flukes" mentioned earlier and see how well they stand up to a closer examination: ❋ Unknown (2008)