thimble-eye
(ˈθɪmb(ə)laɪ)
[f. thimble + eye.]
a. Naut. See quots. 1867, 1877. b. A fish, the Chub Mackerel, Scomber colias. So thimble-eyed a., having eyes like thimbles, as this fish.
| 1815 Trans. Lit. & Philos. Soc. N.Y. I. 422 Thimble eyed, bull eyed, or chub mackerel..comes occasionally in prodigious numbers to the coast of New-York in autumn. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Thimble-eyes, are thimble-shaped apertures in iron-plates where sheaves are not required; frequently used instead of dead-eyes for the top⁓mast-rigging, futtock-plates, and backstays in the channels. 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Thimble-eye,..an eye in a plate through which a rope is rove without a sheave. A dead⁓eye. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 196 The only other spotted fish which has been known to frequent our coast is the ‘chub mackerel’ or ‘thimble eye’. 1891 Cent. Dict., Thimble-eyed,..used of the chub-mackerel. |