ˈparrot-fish
A name given to several fishes on account of their brilliant colouring, or as having a strong hard mouth resembling the bill of a parrot; spec. a. A fish of the family Scaridæ found in tropical seas and having a very strong jaw. b. A fish of the Australian labroid genus Labrichthys, esp. L. psittacula. c. One of the gymnodonts.
| 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 28 We also took here that they call the Parrot-Fish. 1735 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXIX. 113 Psittacus Piscis, viridis, Bahamensis: The Parrot-Fish; so called from the Shape of the Head, and its beautiful Variety of Colours, green, blue, red, and yellow. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 446 The Parrot-fish. This fish has the most beautiful lustres of any I have ever seen... The jaws thick and strong resembling the beak of a parrot. 1885 C. F. Holder Marv. Anim. Life 1 The gorgeous parrot-fishes are the sun-birds of the sea. 1902 Sir W. Kennedy in Daily Chron. 13 Oct. 3/1 A very curious specimen, known in the tropic seas as the parrot-fish, from its formidable beak, like a macaw's. |