▪ I. mackerel1
(ˈmækərəl)
Forms: 3–6 makerel(l, 5 makerelle, makyrelle, 4–7 macrel(l, makrel(l, 5 macrelle, 6 macquerell, 7 maquerel, 7–8 macril(l, maycril, 6–8 mackrell, 7–9 mackrel, 4–9 mackerell, 7–9 mackarel, 8 mackarell, 7– mackerel.
[a. OF. makerel (F. maquereau) of unknown origin.]
1. a. A well-known sea-fish, Scomber scombrus, much used for food, that approaches the shore in shoals in summer-time for the purpose of spawning. Also used for other fishes of similar appearance belonging to the family Scombridæ.
| c 1300 Havelok 758 Keling he tok, and tumberel, Hering, and þe makerel. a 1377 Abingdon Acc. (Camden) 38 In makerell, xxxiijs. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 642/2 Hic megarus, makyrelle. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 558 Merlynge, makerelle. 1530 Palsgr. 241/2 Macquerell a fysshe, macquerel. 1573 Tusser Husb. xii. (1878) 28 When Mackrell ceaseth from the Seas, John Baptist brings grassebeafe and pease. 1601 Chester Love's Mart., Dialogue lxxix, Sommer louing Mackrell. 1623 Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy iii. ii, Bad fortunes are like mackerel at mid⁓summer. a 1658 Cleveland Poor Cavalier 51 Thou shalt..Bait Fishes Hooks to couzen Mackrels Lips. 1704 Swift T. Tub Conclus., A book that misses its tide, shall be neglected..like mackarel a week after the season. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. iii. 214 Slit your Mackrel in halves, take out the Roes, gut and clean them. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 2 Shoals of maycril. 1838 J. S. Polack New Zealand I. ix. 322 The pátiki..is equally excellent with the European fish [sole], as are also the mackarel, of which there are several varieties. 1843 E. Dieffenbach Trav. N.Z. II. 209 Scomber loo..(Scomber scombrus, Solander, Pisc. Austr., p. 31.) Solander observed this mackerel in Queen Charlotte's Sound. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 321 Mackerel will bite at almost any bait. 1886 R. A. A. Sherrin Handbk. Fishes N.Z. 61 In season mackerel are often found between Cape Colville and the Great Barrier. 1951 T. C. Roughley Fish Austral. 96 Common mackerel (Slimy mackerel—Pneumatophorus australasicus). The common mackerel (of the family Scombridæ) is found in all Australian States and occurs in great numbers, particularly round the southern half of the continent where it inhabits ocean waters no great distance from the coast. 1960 Doogue & Moreland N.Z. Sea Anglers' Guide 250 Common mackerel.. is the mackerel of English-speaking countries... Other names: Pneumatophorus japonicus; southern mackerel, English mackerel, frigate mackerel; tawatawa (Maori). |
b. In proverbs and proverbial expressions.
| 1760 Foote Minor 1. Wks. 1799 I. 238 You can be secret as well as serviceable?.. Mute as a mackrel. 1819 Metropolis III. 154 We were as mute as mackarel for exactly seven minutes and a half. 1890 Hall Caine Bondman ii. xiii, Was he throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel? |
c. Phr.
holy mackerel, an exclam. expressing wonder or astonishment.
| 1899 Ade In Babel (1903) 111 Hot? Holy sufferin' mackerel! Me pushin' up the lid..to get a little fresh air. 1944 T. Rattigan While Sun Shines ii. 218 Holy mackerel! A Duke! 1958 ‘J. Brogan’ Cummings Report xviii. 189 Holy mackerel! What a way to run an army! 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 40 Holy Mary is probably the idea underlying holy Moses and holy mackerel. |
2. Applied with qualifying word to other fishes.
† great mackerel, ? the tunny.
Spanish mackerel,
† (
a) the tunny, (
b) in England the
Scomber colias, (
c) in
U.S. the
Scomberomerus maculatus. See also
horse-mackerel.
| a 1672 Willughby Icthyogr. (1686) Tab. M. 1 Thynnus sive Thunnus Gesn. Spanish Mackerel. 1709 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) III. i. 414 The Great Mackarell is 7 Foot long. 1832 Couch in Mag. Nat. Hist. V. 22 Spanish Mackarel (Scomber maculatus). 1880 Günther Fishes 457 S[comber] colias..often called ‘Spanish’ Mackerel. |
3. Angling. Short for
mackerel-fly.
| 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 311, 1. Mackarel. Dubbing, of light brown camel's hair. 1864 Intell. Observ. VI. 152 A fly known to anglers as the mackerel. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
mackerel-catcher,
mackerel-fishery,
mackerel fleck,
mackerel-fleet,
mackerel-gaff,
mackerel-smack;
† mackerel-back n. (see
quot. a 1700);
mackerel-back,
-backed adjs.,
† (
a)
slang, long-backed; (
b) said of clouds, sky: see
mackerel-sky;
mackerel-bait, a fisherman's name for jelly-fish (
Cent. Dict.);
mackerel-bird, local name for the wryneck and the young kittiwake (see
quots.);
mackerel-boat, a boat for mackerel-fishing; ‘a stout clinch-worked vessel, with a large fore-sail, spritsail, and mizen’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
mackerel-bob, a four-pointed fish-jig, for catching mackerel;
mackerel-breeze, a breeze that ruffles the water, so as to favour the catching of mackerel (
cf. mackerel-gale); hence
mackerel-breezy a.;
mackerel-clouds (see
mackerel-sky);
mackerel-cock, a local name for the Manx Shearwater (Newton);
mackerel-cry, the hawker's cry of ‘new mackerel’;
mackerel-fly Angling, a species of May-fly, also an artificial fly imitating this;
mackerel-gale, a strong breeze such as mackerel are best caught in;
mackerel-guide, a local name for the gar-fish;
mackerel-gull, a name in
U.S. for the tern;
mackerel-midge, the young of the rockling (
Motella) (Günther);
† mackerel-mint, common mint (
Mentha viridis);
mackerel-pike, any fish of the genus
Scombresocidæ; a saury (
Cent. Dict.);
mackerel-plough, a knife used for creasing the sides of lean mackerel in order to improve their appearance (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1884);
mackerel-scad, an American fish,
Decapterus macarellus;
mackerel-scout = mackerel-guide;
mackerel shark, a shark of the family Lamnidæ,
esp. a mako shark (
mako1) or the porbeagle,
Lamna nasus;
mackerel-skied a., having, or characterized by, a mackerel-sky;
mackerel-sky, a sky dappled with small white fleecy clouds (cirro-cumulus);
mackerel-sture, a northern name for the tunny.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Mackarel-back, a very tall, lank Person. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 249 At other times it is..mottled like a mackerel's back, when it is called the ‘mackerel-back sky’. 1888 Pall Mall G. 22 Sept. 1/2 In some places the clouds were what we sailors call ‘mackerel back’. |
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, *Mackarel backed, long backed. 1865 Intell. Observ. VIII. 257 Cirro⁓cumulus, or a ‘mackerel-backed’ sky. |
| 1879 Cecil Smith Birds of Guernsey 94 The Wryneck.. arriving..about the same time as the mackerel, wherefore it has also obtained the local name of ‘*Mackerel Bird’. 1882–4 Yarrell Brit. Birds (ed. 4) III. 654 Mr. Cordeaux says that the Flamborough fishermen call the young Kittiwakes ‘Mackerel-birds’, because they usually appear at sea with their parents in August when the fish are approaching the coast. |
| 1768 Ann. Reg. 120 A premium..for encouraging the *mackerel-boats to bring their fish to market. |
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 195 *Mackerel bob formerly used by New England fishermen for the capture of mackerel without the use of bait. |
| 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) II. xiv. 209 They tacked to and fro in the river under the impulse of a *mackerel breeze. 1843 Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. III. iii. i. 89 It was blowing a mackarel breeze only. |
| 1834 R. Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 2 It is one of those *mackerel-breezy days on which the surface of the water just dances and dimples. |
| 1614 Eng. way to wealth in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 244 The fishermen-*mackarel-catchers. |
| 1830 N. S. Wheaton Jrnl. 510 *Mackarel clouds..are hung around the horizon. |
| 1772 Rutty Nat. Hist. Co. Dublin I. 329 The *Mackarel-Cock..a bird of passage coming to us in June and July, about the time of the Mackarels... It is commonly as big as a Cormorant [etc.]. |
| 1714 Gay Trivia ii. 310 Ev'n Sundays are prophan'd by *Mackrell Cries. |
| 1883 Huxley Addr. Fishery Congress 18 June 16, I believe then that the..*mackerel-fishery, and probably all the great sea-fisheries, are inexhaustible. |
| 1940 R. Gibbings Sweet Thames run Softly xx. 182 Tall nimbus clouds reared their heads towards the *mackerel flecks in the upper air. |
| 1894 Hall Caine Manxman 425 The *mackerel fleet were leaving for Kinsale. |
| 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby i. 177 Lesser hackle fly, *mackerel fly [etc.]. |
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 195 *Mackerel gaff..used by New England fishermen. |
| 1577–87 Harrison England i. x. in Holinshed I. 45/1 Scarse comparable to the *makerell gale. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 456 The wind was fair, but blew a mackrel gale. 1769 Pennant Zool. III. 222 This fish [mackrel] is easily taken by a bait, but the best time is during a fresh gale of wind, which is thence called a mackrel gale. |
| 1835 Jenyns Man. Brit. Vert. Anim. 419 Belone vulgaris... From its usually preceding the Mackerel, is sometimes called the *Mackerel-Guide. |
| 1796 Nemnich Polygl.-Lex. Nat. Hist. v. 820 *Mackarel gull Larus ridibundus. 1883 Century Mag. Sept. 653/1 Among the most common birds are the..tern or mackerell-gull. |
| 1832 Couch in Mag. Nat. Hist. V. 16 It is the *mackerel midge of our fishermen, to whom it is well known. 1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 149 The mackerel-midge..never surpasses an inch and a quarter in length. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxv. 553 The third [Mint] is called..in English Speare Mint,..Browne Mint, and *Macrell Mint. |
| 1880–4 F. Day Brit. Fishes II. 148 In Ireland horn-eel (Belfast Bay); *mackerel-scout (Strangford Lough). |
| 1819 Plough Boy I. 135 The revenue cutter brought in two very strange fish, found eating a dead horse, supposed to be *mackerel sharks. 1959 A. Hardy Fish & Fisheries iv. 73 The inclusion here [sc. in the British list] of the mako or mackerel shark, Isurus oxyrinchus, is a surprise. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 17 Oct. 6/1 A..fisherman..found a drift bottle inside a mackerel shark. |
| 1921 W. de la Mare Mem. Midget xxxviii. 255 One *mackerel-skied afternoon, Mrs. Monnerie and I and Susan were returning across the Park. |
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 295 In a fair day, if the sky seem to be dapled with white Clouds, (which they usually term a *Mackarel-sky) it usually predicts Rain. 1883 R. H. Scott Elem. Meteorol. 126 Small detached rounded masses [of cloud]..like the markings of a mackerel, whence the name ‘mackerel sky’. |
| 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3295/3 An open Pinnace..came into the Downes,..put on Board a *Mackrel Smack, and carried away the Master. |
| 1772 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXII. 310 note, The tunny fish [are caught] on the coast of Argyleshire,..where they are called *mackrel sture. |
Add:
[4.] mackerel-snapper U.S. slang (
derog.,
rare), a Roman Catholic (alluding to the Catholic tradition of eating fish on Fridays).
| 1960 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 330/1 *Mackerel-snapper. 1978 J. Carroll Mortal Friends II. iv. 175 Who wouldn't be glum working for a mackerel-snapper who'd betray his people by coming out for a Protestant patrician over one of his own? 1990 T. Robbins Skinny Legs & All 161 Both Ellen Cherry and Buddy surveyed St. Patrick's... ‘Well, what are you doin' here? In front of the doors through which pass the richest mackerel-snappers in New York City?’ |
▪ II. † ˈmackerel2 Obs. Forms: 5–6
makerel(l,
makrel(l, 5–7
ma(c)querel, 7
maquerell(e,
mackarel(l,
-erel(le,
macrell; also in quasi-Italian form
maquerel(l)a.
[ad. OF. maquerel (F. maquereau, maquerelle) of unknown origin; possibly the same word as mackerel1; some have conjectured that it is from Du. makelaar broker.] One who ministers to sexual debauchery; a bawd, pimp, procurer or procuress.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 13478 Glotonye: Yiff thow me calle..Lyk as I am, A Bocheresse, Or in ffrench..I am callyd a Makerel, Whos offyce..Ys in ynglysshe bauderye. 1483 Caxton Cato B vij, Nyghe hys hows dwellyd a maquerel or bawde. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 192 Sic poyd makrellis for Lucifer bene leche. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 27, I no wais can, vnwet my cheekes, beholde My sisters made by Frenchemen macquerelsolde. a 1600 Montgomerie Sonn. lxx. 8 Quhy maks thou makrels of the modest Muses. a 1613 Sir T. Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) 142 A Maquerela, in plaine English, a Bawde. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Gt. Eater Kent Wks. i. 143/1 Some get their liuing..by tayles, as Maquerellaes, Concubines, Curtezanes [etc.]. c 1645 Howell Lett. ii. xxiv, The Pander did his Office, but brought him a Citizen clad in Damoisells apparell, so she and her Maquerell were paid accordingly. 1658 in Phillips. a 1700 in B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew. |