ˈcoal-fish
A fish (Merlangus or Pollachius carbonarius, or Gadus virens), allied to the Cod, so called from the dusky pigment which tinges its skin, and soils the fingers like moist coal. Found in the Northern Seas, and caught for food. (It has many local names; in U.S. called pollock.)
| 1603 Breton Packet Lett. Wks. (1879) 24 (D.) Cole-fish and poore-John I haue no need off. 1744 Preston Zetland in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 61 In the Sea they catch Cod..Cole-fish, Flukes, Trouts, etc. 1835 Sir J. Ross N.W. Pass. xli. 547 Consisting chiefly of small cod and coalfish. 1887 West Shore 431 The black cod, formerly called ‘coal-fish’. |