sea-hare
[Cf. G. see-, meerhase, Du. zeehaas, in both senses.]
1. A mollusc, Aplysia depilans (and other species), having an oval body with four tentacles.
A rendering of the lepus marinus of Pliny, whose account is the source of most of the older English references. The designation is thought to be due to the resemblance of the two skinny lobes of the animal to the ears of a hare. Pliny's notion that the animal is venomous has no foundation.
| 1593 G. Harvey Pierces Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 251 Good against the empoisonment of the sea-hare. 1626 Bacon Sylva §983 It hath beene anciently receiued, that the Sea-Hare hath an Antipathy with the Lungs, (if it commeth neare the Body,) and erodeth them. 1759 tr. M. Adanson's Voy. Senegal 208 Several soft fishes, as sea hares, cuttle fish, and polypus. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 65 The cuttle-fish and the sea-hare. |
2. The Lump-fish: see lump n.2 rare.
| 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 390. |