ˈrazor-fish
[f. razor n.]
1. Any bivalve mollusc of the genus Solen or family Solenidæ, having a long narrow shell like the handle of a razor; esp. the European species Solen ensis or siliqua, common on sandy shores.
| 1602 Carew Cornwall i. 32 The Sheath, or Razor-fish, resembleth in length and bignesse a mans finger. 1632 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan ii. vii. (1838) 62 Raser-fishes there are. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Dactylus,..a name used by many authors for the solen or razor-fish. 1802–3 tr. Pallas's Trav. (1812) II. 466, I have nowhere met with any rare sea-muscles; only the razor-fish, or Solen, of the Bosphorus. 1884 Goode Usef. Aquatic Anim. 707 The Californian Razor-fish (Siliqua patula) is also edible. |
2. A Mediterranean labroid fish (Xyrichthys novacula); also, a related W. Indian fish (X. lineatus).
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Novacula piscis, the rasor⁓fish..the name of a sea-fish caught in the Mediterranean, and some other seas. [Description follows.] |