▪ I. sea-pie1
[pie n.1]
A common name for the oyster-catcher, Hæmatopus ostralegus. Also used in Her. as an armorial bearing (see quot. 1780).
| 1552 Acc. P'cess Eliz. 40 in Camden Misc. (1853) II, Paid in rewarde..to Mr. Levetts servauntes for bringing of sea⁓pies, x. s. c 1557 S. Burrough in Hakluyt's Voy. (1599) I. 279 In this place we found plenty of young foule, as Gulles, Seapies, and others. 1615 Markham Pleas. Princ. viii. (1635) 37 The Sea-pie is a great devourer of all sorts of Fish. 1747 Mallet Amyntor & Theod. Wks. 1759 I. 127 The Sea-Py ceas'd At once to warble. 1772–84 Cook's Voy. (1790) IV. 1323 Among the rocks are found black sea pies, with red bills. 1780 Edmondson Heraldry II. Gloss., Sea-pie, a water-fowl, of a dark brown colour, with a red head, and the neck and wings white. 1862 Kingsley Water Bab. iv. 140 The sea-pies with their red bills and legs, flew to and fro from shore to shore. 1873 Black Pr. Thule ix. 141 Not even a gull or a sea-pye crossed the..moorland. |
| transf. 1607 Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe i. B 2 b, Now blew-bottle? what flutter you for[,] Sea-pye? Servingman. Not to catch fish, sir. |
▪ II. sea-pie2
[pie n.2]
A dish of meat and vegetables, etc. boiled together, with a crust of paste, or ‘in layers between crusts, the number of which denominate it a two or three decker’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
| 1751 Affect. Narr. of Wager 66 They shot several wild Fowl, some of which they roasted, putting the rest into what we call a Sea Pye. 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. vi, Lobscous, sea-pie, and other delicacies of a naval description. 1886 Cunliffe Rochdale Gloss., Sea-pie, a pie of potatoes and flesh baked in a pan over the fire. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 227 Using it also in the preparation of a sort of sea-pie they [the natives] make with meat and fish. |
| transf. 1847 Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 123 Pictorially, The Drawing-Room Scrap-Book is a sea-pie, made up of scraps that have been served at many tables before. |