▪ I. ling, n.1
(lɪŋ)
Forms: 3–5 lenge, 4 leyng, 4–5 leenge, 4–7 lyng(e, linge, 4– ling.
[ME. lenge, lienge, later ling(e (whence, according to Hatz.-Darm., F. lingue); cf. early mod.Du. lenghe, linghe (now leng), G. leng, länge, lange, ON. langa, Sw. långa, Norw. langa, longa, Da. længe. Connexion with long a. is probable.]
1. A long slender gadoid fish, Molva vulgaris or Lota molva, inhabiting the seas of northern Europe. It is largely used for food (usually either salted, or split and dried). † old ling: salted ling. organ ling: see organ.
| c 1300 Havelok 832 Ne he ne mouthe on the se take Neyther lenge, ne thornbake. 1324–5 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 14 In..ij Lenges empt', iiijs. viijd. 1377 Ibid. 46 In j Turbutt et j leyng emp. xs. vjd. 1425 in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 255 Cum i viridi lynge, cum iii congers. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 43 Nym Milwel or lenge, þat is wel y-wateryd. 1459 in Paston Lett. I. 490 Item, ij saltyng tubbes. Item, viij. lynges. 1573 Tusser Husb. lvii. (1878) 133 Ling, Saltfish and Herring, for Lent to provide. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. iii. (1600) L 4 b, Hee lookes like..a drie Poule of Ling vpon Easter-eue, that has furnisht the table all Lent. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. ii. 12, 13 Our old Lings, and our Isbels a'th Country, are nothing like your old Ling and your Isbels a'th Court. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. ii. ii. (1668) 78 Take the jole of the best Ling that is not much watered. 1619 Pasquil's Palm. (1877) 152 When Flesh doth bid adue for divers weekes, And leaves old Ling to be his deputie. a 1661 Fuller Worthies viii. (1662) i. 23 Ling, that Noble Fish, corrival in his Joule with the surloin of Beef. 1667 Pepys Diary 20 Mar., Had a good dinner of ling and herring pie. 1712 A. van Leeuwenhoek in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 409, I stood by a Fishmongers Shop, whilst they were laying their dry Ling in the Water to soften it. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery ix. 91 Old ling, which is the best Sort of Salt Fish, lay it in Water twelve Hours, then [etc.]. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 22 The Ling in the neighbourhood of Iceland are so bad, that [etc.]. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Rejoic. New Yr., He..protested there was no faith in dried ling. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 182 The most usual length of the Ling is from three to four feet. |
2. Applied in America, New Zealand, etc. to other fishes, as the burbot (Lota maculosa), the cultus-cod (Ophiodon elongatus), etc. (see quots.).
| c 1850 [see lawyer 5]. 1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 212 In eastern Florida it [Elacate canada] is called the sergeant-fish, and along the western coast of the peninsula it is known as the ling or snooks. Ibid. 260 One [fish] living in the sea round New Zealand (Genypterus blacodes) is known as the ling or cloudy bay-cod. 1888 [see cultus-cod]. 1898 Morris Austral Eng., Ling..In New Zealand and Tasmania, it is applied to Genypterus blacodes, Forst.; also called Cloudy Bay Cod. Lotella marginata, Macl., is called Ling, in New South Wales. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as ling fish (cf. cod-fish), ling fishery, ling hook, ling pie; ling-cod N. Amer., a North Pacific species of cod, Ophiodon elongatus, also called cultus cod. (Cf. sense 2.)
| 1955 W. Dawson Ahoy There! 205 Besides salmon, we catch cod..*ling-cod of up to (in our case) twelve pounds. 1964 Canad. Geogr. Jrnl. Mar. 91/3 This is particularly true in the case of the ling cod, the spear-fisherman's favourite quarry. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 21 Mar. 2/3, I have taken in recent years, six species of rockfish..also lingcod. |
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xvi. H vj b, Grete foyson of *ling fysshe, and haburden. c 1526 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 224 Sir, ye spoke with me that you wold have had som good ling fish. 1836 Chamb. Jrnl. Dec. 388 Spain presents a good..market for dried cod and ling fish. |
| 1798 Malthus Popul. (1878) 222 The *ling fishery. 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 436 The ling-fishery is an important industry, large quantities of these fish being cured and dried. |
| 1822 Hibbert Descr. Shetld. Isl. 510 The lines are fitted with *ling hooks. |
| 1623 Markham Eng. Housw. 100 A *Ling pie. |
▪ II. ling, n.2
(lɪŋ)
Also 4–7 lyng(e, 5 lynk, 5, 7 lingge, 6–7 linge.
[a. ON. lyng (Da. lyng, Sw. ljung):—OTeut. type *lingwo{supm}. Cf. Sw. lingon cowberry.]
A name applied to various ericaceous plants, chiefly Calluna vulgaris; see heather.
| c 1357 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 559 Et in reparacione stagni molend. Abbathie cum Mos et Lyng pro eadem. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 336 He laf slawe in a slak fforty score on a pak..Dede in the lyng. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 305/2 Ly(n)ge of the hethe, bruera. 14.. Arund. MS. 42, f. 23 b in Promp. Parv. 305 note, An heth þat groweþ ful..of lynk. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 397 Gif thow meitis ony leid lent on the ling. 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 249 For xiiij. thrave of lyng. 1538 Leland Itin. V. 122 In the Dales of Richemontshire they burne Linge, Petes, and Turffes. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 35 Erice..is named in english Heth, hather, or ling. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron., Hist. Scot. 95/1 There was growing in that place..verie much of that kind of heath or ling, which the Scotishmen call hadder. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1206 Little beds..made of chast tree and of heath or lings. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. v. 235 Heath is the generall or common name, whereof there is one kind, called Hather, the other, Ling. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 357 Sheep will now abide that heath and feed upon Ling all the hardest winter. 1819 Crabbe Tales Hall xix, She..stirr'd the fire of ling, and brush'd the wicker chair. 1822 T. Bewick Mem. 11 The shepherd might have his hovel thatched with heather and ling. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 124 Their huts were always..thatched with rushes and ling. |
b. attrib., as ling-thatch; ling-bird, the meadow-pipit, Anthus pratensis.
| 1814 Sporting Mag. XLIV. 245 note, The small heath⁓bird or *ling-bird. 1893 J. Watson Confess. Poacher 110 The ‘cheep-cheep’ of the awakening ling-birds rises from every brae. |
| 1482–3 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 648 Pro tractacione xl travis (sic) del *lyngthake, xxd. 1884 Gd. Words 21 The heavy ling thatch hung low over window and wall. |
▪ III. ling, n.3
[Chinese ling (Giles).]
The water-chestnut of China, Trapa bicornis, the seeds of which are much eaten as food.
| 1860 Scarth Twelve Yrs. China 8 Gathering the rich mould and decayed vegetable matter where the ‘ling’ has grown in the water. 1866 in Treas. Bot. |
▪ IV. † ling, v. ? dial. Obs.
[Cf. linge, to put out the tongue (Oxfordshire, Eng. Dial. Dict.).]
intr. Of the tongue: To protrude from the mouth.
| 1674 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 303 Her tongue would ling out of her mouth. |
▪ V. ling
variant of leng v. Obs.