▪ I. ˈsea-fish, n.
[Cf. ON. sǽfiskr.]
A fish of the sea as distinguished from a fresh-water fish.
| a 900 Cynewulf Crist 987 (Gr.) Þonne on fyrbaðe swelað sæfiscas sundes ᵹetwæfde. c 1205 Lay. 22550 Fulle sixti scipen..ifulled..mid gode sæ fisce [c 1275 see visce]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 335 Grete plente of samon, of lampreys, of eles, and of oþer see fisch. 1526 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 143 The King's purveyor of see-fish shall see that such provisions of see-fish..bee good and of the best. 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 76 Sea-fish upon the coast of Lanckashire perished in the storm fifty cart-load together. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIII. 537/1 This sea⁓fish [the oyster] occupies [etc.]. 1845 Gosse Ocean ii. (1849) 80 Large pools for the preservation of sea-fishes. 1868 Act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 45 §5 The Term ‘Sea-Fish’ does not include Salmon..but save as aforesaid, includes every Description both of Fish and of Shell-Fish which is found in the Seas to which this Act applies. |
▪ II. ˈsea-fish, v. rare.
[Back-formation from sea-fishing.]
intr. To practise sea-fishing.
| 1894 ‘J. Bickerdyke’ in Blackw. Mag. Sept. 428/2 Since I first commenced to seafish one of the greatest improvements..is in connection with the rod. |