ˈsea-bat
[bat n.1]
1. A flying-fish, esp. the flying gurnard, Dactylopterus volitans.
| 1611 Florio, Accola, a sea Swallow or a Sea Bat. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 39 The French call it Aronder dumer [sic], the Swallow of the Sea; others a Sea Bat, or Rere-mouse of the Sea. a 1672 Willughby Hist. Pisc. (1686) App. 24 Sea Batt. Belgis. An ex Acaraunis? 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 255 The Sea-bat or Flying Gurnard. |
2. The fish Malthe vespertilio.
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica (1789) 457 The Sea-Bat. This curious fish..by the expansion of its side-fins and its small ventrals, represents a bat in some measure. 1758 Edwards Glean. Nat. Hist. 156 The Sea-bat appeared to me..all over of a dark brown or dusky colour. 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 173 The Sea Bat, Malthe vespertilio. |
3. A fish of the genus Platax.
| 1880 Günther Fishes 448 There are probably not more than seven species of ‘Sea-bats’ [Platax], if so many, and they all belong to the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific, where they are very common. |