ˈswordfish
[f. sword n. + fish n.1 Cf. MLG. swertvisch, G. schwertfisch, etc.]
1. The common name of Xiphias gladius, a large fish of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific, having the upper jaw prolonged into a sword-like weapon; the flesh is used for food. Also extended to other species of the genus Xiphias and related genera.
Also applied locally to several fishes of slender elongated form, as the garfish or garpike (Belone vulgaris), the butter-fish or spotted gunnel (Centronotus or Murænoides gunnellus), also called swordick, and the cutlass-fish or silvery hair-tail (Trichiurus lepturus). Also, the grampus or killer (Orca gladiator), a ferocious toothed cetacean.
| c 1400 Brut cclvii. 523 This yere were taken iiij gret ffisshes bitwen Greth & London: one was called mors marine, þe secund, A swerd fyssh, & þe other tweyn wer whalles. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 836 Salt swyrd-fysche savery & fyne. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1912) 517 The sword⁓fish, against the whale; the Rhinoceros against the elephant. 1613 Descr. Bermudas in Force Tracts (1844) III. iii. 22 The Sword-fish swimmes vnder the Whale, and pricketh him vpward. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxiii. 168 The horne of the Pristis or Sword-fish. 1658 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 14. ii. iv. 47 The sword-fish, which Plutarch saith, hath..a sword in the head, but no heart to use it. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sword-Fish, a Sea-fish which has at the end of the upper Jaw, a Weapon like a Sword..; It also has Vents near the Eyes, to spout forth Water, with seven Fins. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 128 The sword fish is said to be very voracious. 1820 Shelley Arethusa 68 The shadowy waves Are as green as the forest's night:—Outspeeding the shark, And the sword⁓fish dark. 1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 49 It is said by whalers, that the ‘thresher’ and the sword-fish attack the whale in conjunction. |
b. attrib.
| 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 249 Upon the end of the ‘shank’ fits the head of the harpoon, known by the names of Sword-fish iron, lily-iron, and Indian-dart. 1891 Cent. Dict. s.v., Swordfish sucker, a remora, Echeneis brachyptera, which often fastens on swordfishes. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. viii. 190 A Gloucester sword-fish boat. |
2. The southern constellation Dorado or Xiphias.
| 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 487 The new Southern Constellations [include]..Dorado, Xiphias, The Sword Fish. |
Hence ˈswordˌfisherman, a vessel employed in fishing for swordfish; ˈswordˌfishery, ˈswordˌfishing, fishing for swordfish.
| 1879 The Congregationalist 20 Aug. (Cent. Dict.) Swordfishing is the most popular way of spending the day [at Block Island]. 1885 C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 61 The Thumbscrew was a sword-fisherman, long, low and rakish. |