halibut, holibut
(ˈhælɪbʌt, -ət, ˈhɒlɪbʌt)
Forms: α. 5–6 halybutte, 7 allebut, 7–8 hallibut, 7– halibut. β. 7 holybut, 7–8 hollibut(t, 8 hollybut(t, 7– holibut.
[app. f. haly, holy + butt n.1 flat fish: cf. mod.Du. heilbot (in Kilian heylbot, eelbot), LG. heilbutt, heilige butt, Norse heilag-fiski, Sw. helgeflundra, Da. helleflynder i.e. holy flounder: supposed to be so called from being so commonly eaten on holy-days.]
A large flat fish (Hippoglossus vulgaris), abundant in the northern seas, and much used for food. (Plural halibuts, also collectively halibut.)
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 60 Halybutte. Plays fryid. 1570 Levins Manip. 195/27 Halybutte, fish. 1616 Capt. Smith Descr. New Eng. 30 Cod, Cuske, Holybut [1624 Virginia vi. 216 Hollibut] Mackerell, Scate. 1620 Venner Via Recta iv. 75 The Hallibut is a big fish, and of great accompt. 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Sea Fishes 99 Holibut or Halibut. 1743 Phil. Trans. XLII. 612 Sharks, Hollybutts, Red-fish, Trout. 1854 Badham Halieut. 358 The hippoglossus vulgaris, or holibut..individuals have been captured nearly eight feet in length, four in breadth, and a span thick. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. xi. 302 An Indian canoe was out catching halibut. |
b. Applied to other flat fish of the family Pleuronectidæ, as the Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides), and the Monterey halibut or bastard halibut of California (Paralichthys californicus).
c. attrib. and Comb., as halibut-killer; halibut-broom, a disgorger for halibut; halibut-slime, a kind of sea-anemone, parasitic on halibut.
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 195 Halibut-killer and gobstick for killing the fish and disgorging the hook. |
Hence ˈhalibutter, ˈholibutter, a vessel engaged in the halibut-fishery.