ˈrock-fish
[rock n.1]
1. A fish frequenting rocks or rocky bottoms, spec. as the name of many unrelated fishes, such as the black goby or sea-gudgeon, the striped bass, the wrasse, etc. Also = rock salmon (c) s.v. rock n.1 9 d.
Also with defining terms, as bearded, black, grass, green, etc., applied to a number of American fishes, chiefly of the genera Sebastichthys and Sebastomus.
| 1598 Florio Worlde of Wordes 279/1 Piota,..a kind of rock fish. 1611 Cotgr., Canadelle, the smallest of rock-fishes, beautified with spots of sundry colours. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage ix. xiv. (1614) 912 Mullets, Breames, Lobstars, and angel-like Hog-fish, Rock-fish, &c. 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 100 Also Rock-fishes, which are red intermixt with several other colours. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 91 The Rock-fish is called by Sea-men a Grooper. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 115 Pollock, Cavallos, Rock-Fish, Silver-Fish. 1740 R. Brookes Art of Angling 135 The Sea-Gudgeon or Rock-Fish..is a slender roundish Fish, about six Inches long. 1775 A. Burnaby Trav. 9 These waters are stored with incredible quantities of fish, such as sheeps-heads, rock-fish, drums, white pearch. ? 1835 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXIII. 223/1 The Striped Basse, or Rock-fish, as it is called, is very common along the coast of New York. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. 211 The fishes most commonly brought into market in Guernsey are the rock-fish (wrasse or vraic-fish,..) and the conger. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 21 Closely allied to the Pike-Perches is the log-perch, P. caprodes, also known as the ‘Rock-fish’, and ‘Hog-fish’. 1969 [see rock-salmon s.v. rock n.1 9 d]. |
2. ‘A codfish split, washed, and dried on the rocks’ (Cent. Dict. 1890).
3. = klipfish 1.
| 1731, 1806 [see klipfish 1]. |