‖ dorado
(dɒˈrɑːdəʊ, ‖ doˈrado)
[a. Sp. dorado gilded = F. doré, It. dorato:—L. deaurātus, pa. pple. of deaurāre to gild, f. de- + aurum gold: see dory.]
1. A fish (Coryphæna hippuris) celebrated for its splendid colouring and the velocity of its movements; also called dolphin: see dolphin 2.
| 1604 E. Grimstone tr. D'Acosta's Hist. W. Indies (1880) 164 They are pursued by the Dorados, and to escape them they leape out of the sea. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 5 Fish-hookes, for Porgos, Bonetos, or Dorados. 1796 Stedman Surinam I. i. 9 Dolphins or dorados, which beautiful fish seem to take peculiar delight in sporting around the vessels. 1852 Th. Ross Humboldt's Trav. I. iii. 132. |
2. A South American river fish: see quot.
| 1871 Gd. Words 720 In the deeper waters of the Uruguay are numbers of the dorado, or South American salmon..a very handsome fish, of a bright golden colour. |
3. A southern constellation, also called Xiphias or the Sword-fish.
| 1819 in Pantologia. 1823 Crabb Techn. Dict., Dorado, a southern constellation not visible in our latitude. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. lxxxiv. 34. |
† 4. fig. a. A rich man. Obs. b. See El Dorado.
| 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §1 A troop of these ignorant Doradoes. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 379 He found not the sought for Dorado, a golden Prince indeed. |