| 释义 |
pilchard|ˈpɪltʃəd|
Forms: α. 6–8 pilcher, (6 piltcher, 6–7 pilchar(e, pylcher); β. 6– pilchard, (6 pylcherd(e, pilcharde, 7 -erd).
[Origin obscure. The d is excrescent. (Cf. Ir. pilseir from Eng.)
Skeat compares Norw. pilk an artificial bait, whence Dan. dial. pilke, Swed. dial. pilka to fish in a particular manner. Cf. also Sc. dial pilch a short fat person, anything thick or gross, a tough skinny piece of meat.]
A small sea fish, Clupea pilchardus, closely allied to the herring, but smaller, and rounder in form; it is taken in large numbers on the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, and forms a considerable article of trade; in U.S. and Commonwealth locally applied to other fishes of the herring kind, e.g. the C. sagax of the Pacific, the Harengula macrophthalma of Bermuda; also to the young menhaden.
† to take sturgeons with pilchards, to get large returns from a small outlay (obs.).
1530Palsgr. 254/1 Pylcher a fysshe, sardine. 1542Boorde Dyetary xxx. (1870) 293 He must not eate..fresshe heryng, pylcherdes, etc. 1570Levins Manip. 30/35 Pilcharde, gerres, halecula. Ibid. 74/37 Pylcher, fish, mena, æ. c1600Norden Spec. Brit., Cornw. (1728) 22 The..recheste fishing is of the leaste fishe which is called a pilcharde. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. i. 39 Fooles are as like husbands, as Pilchers are to Herrings. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xlviii. (1674) 63 They have built commodious Inns to take Sturgeons with Pilcherds. 1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4941/2 Pilchers for the Streights. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 263 The continuation and direction of these two bands, the pilchers of the South, and the herrings of the North, are nearly of the same length. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 288 The refuse pilchards in Cornwall are used..as a Manure. 1865Kingsley Herew. v, Savoury was the smell of fried pilchard.
attrib.1685Petty Last Will p. vi, I set up iron-works and pilchard-fishing in Kerry. 1824Hitchins & Drew Cornwall II. 471 The pilchard fishery furnishes the staple commodity of the place. |
单词 pilcher 释义 ▪ I. † pilcher1 Obs.A term of abuse, frequent at the beginning of the ......