Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Liver \Liv"er\, n. [AS. lifer; akin to D. liver, G. leber, OHG.
   lebara, Icel. lifr, Sw. lefver, and perh. to Gr. ? fat, E.
   live, v.] (Anat.)
   A very large glandular and vascular organ in the visceral
   cavity of all vertebrates.

   Note: Most of the venous blood from the alimentary canal
         passes through it on its way back to the heart; and it
         secretes the bile, produces glycogen, and in other ways
         changes the blood which passes through it. In man it is
         situated immediately beneath the diaphragm and mainly
         on the right side. See {Bile}, {Digestive}, and
         {Glycogen}. The liver of invertebrate animals is
         usually made up of c[ae]cal tubes, and differs
         materially, in form and function, from that of
         vertebrates.

   {Floating liver}. See {Wandering liver}, under {Wandering}.
      

   {Liver of antimony}, {Liver of sulphur}. (Old Chem.) See
      {Hepar}.

   {Liver brown}, {Liver color}, the color of liver, a dark,
      reddish brown.

   {Liver shark} (Zo["o]l.), a very large shark ({Cetorhinus
      maximus}), inhabiting the northern coasts both of Europe
      and North America. It sometimes becomes forty feet in
      length, being one of the largest sharks known; but it has
      small simple teeth, and is not dangerous. It is captured
      for the sake of its liver, which often yields several
      barrels of oil. It has gill rakers, resembling whalebone,
      by means of which it separates small animals from the sea
      water. Called also {basking shark}, {bone shark},
      {hoemother}, {homer}, and {sailfish}

Shark \Shark\, n. [Of uncertain origin; perhaps through OF. fr.
   carcharus a kind of dogfish, Gr. karchari`as, so called from
   its sharp teeth, fr. ka`rcharos having sharp or jagged teeth;
   or perhaps named from its rapacity (cf. {Shark}, v. t. & i.);
   cf. Corn. scarceas.]
   1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch
      fishes of the order Plagiostomi, found in all seas.

   Note: Some sharks, as the basking shark and the whale shark,
         grow to an enormous size, the former becoming forty
         feet or more, and the latter sixty feet or more, in
         length. Most of them are harmless to man, but some are
         exceedingly voracious. The man-eating sharks mostly
         belong to the genera {Carcharhinus}, {Carcharodon}, and
         related genera. They have several rows of large sharp
         teeth with serrated edges, as the great white shark
         ({Carcharodon carcharias, or Rondeleti}) of tropical
         seas, and the great blue shark ({Carcharhinus glaucus})
         of all tropical and temperate seas. The former
         sometimes becomes thirty-six feet long, and is the most
         voracious and dangerous species known. The rare
         man-eating shark of the United States coast
         ({Charcarodon Atwoodi}) is thought by some to be a
         variety, or the young, of {C. carcharias}. The dusky
         shark ({Carcharhinus obscurus}), and the smaller blue
         shark ({C. caudatus}), both common species on the coast
         of the United States, are of moderate size and not
         dangerous. They feed on shellfish and bottom fishes.

   2. A rapacious, artful person; a sharper. [Colloq.]

   3. Trickery; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark.
      [Obs.] --South.

   {Baskin shark}, {Liver shark}, {Nurse shark}, {Oil shark},
   {Sand shark}, {Tiger shark}, etc. See under {Basking},
      {Liver}, etc. See also {Dogfish}, {Houndfish},
      {Notidanian}, and {Tope}.

   {Gray shark}, the sand shark.

   {Hammer-headed shark}. See {Hammerhead}.

   {Port Jackson shark}. See {Cestraciont}.

   {Shark barrow}, the eggcase of a shark; a sea purse.

   {Shark ray}. Same as {Angel fish}
      (a), under {Angel}.

   {Thrasher} shark, or {Thresher shark}, a large, voracious
      shark. See {Thrasher}.

   {Whale shark}, a huge harmless shark ({Rhinodon typicus}) of
      the Indian Ocean. It becomes sixty feet or more in length,
      but has very small teeth.