turbot
(ˈtɜːbət)
Forms: 3–8 turbut, 4–5 -bote, 4–7 -butt, 5 -bott, 6 -butte, 6–7 -bat, 7 Sc. -batt, 6–8 -bet, 7, 9 -bit, 4– turbot.
[a. OF. tourbout (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), torbout, AF. turbut, MDu. turbot, terbot, tarbot; of uncertain origin; perh. a deriv. of L. turbo spinning top (also in med.L. ‘turbot’), referring to its shape; but the termination of the F. word is unexplained.]
1. A large flat fish (Rhombus maximus or Psetta maxima), having a wide scaleless body covered with conical bony tubercles, with the eyes normally on the left side, found on the European coasts and much esteemed as food.
| c 1300 Havelok 754 He tok þe sturgiun, and þe qual, And þe turbut, and lax with-al. 1307–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 4 In j turbote, iiij s. ij d. 1377 Ibid. 46 In j Turbutt et j leyng emp. in villa, xs. vj d. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 704/36 (Nomina piscium) Hic turbo, -[i]nis, a turbott. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 112 Nym luys, turbot, and elys & gobete hem in mosselys. 1502–3 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 248 Payd for di. a turbutt xx d. 1570 Levins Manip. 93/24 A Turbet, fish, rhombus, i. Ibid. 195/28 Turbutte, fish, chalchis, rhombus, i. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 41 Turbat, ffluik, and plase fluik. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 266 Turbots..were in old time counted so good and delicate, that this Proverb grew upon them, Nihil ad Rhombum; that is to say, What is all this in comparison of a Turbot. 1728 Young Love Fame iii. 74 The salmon is refus'd, the turbot bought. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 5 June, My uncle..asked him to dinner, and treated him with a fine turbot. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 238 Reversed Turbots..that is, Turbots having the eyes and dark colour on the right side instead of the left, are also occasionally brought to market. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 324 The English markets..are supplied chiefly with Dutch turbot. |
2. Applied to other fish more or less resembling the turbot.
a. In north of
Eng. and parts of Scotland, the halibut.
b. In
U.S., any of various large flat fishes, as the diamond flounder of California (
Hypopsetta guttulata), or the spotted flounder of the Pacific coast (
Bothus maculatus).
c. In New Zealand,
Ammotretis guntheri, also called
lemon-sole (Morris).
d. Locally, any of various species of
Balistes, the file-fishes and trigger-fishes (
Cent. Dict. 1891).
| 1555 Eden Decades 200 Certeyne other fysshes: as soles, mackerelles, turbuttes [in W. Indies]. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 104 They gaue vnto vs a great fresh turbut. 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xx. I. 247 In a Turbot the right side turneth upward, and in a Plaice the left. 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Fishes s.v., What in the [South] they call the Halibut in the North they call the Turbot;..in some parts of the West of England they call the Turbot Bret and the Halibut Turbot. 1794 Statist. Acc. Scot. XII. 171 note, The fish..are cod, ling, skate, mackerel, hollybut, here called turbot. 1810 P. Neill List Fishes 11 (Jam.) Holibut... In our [Edinburgh] market..named the turbot; the proper turbot..getting another name, that of rawnfleuk. 1883 Chambers' Encycl. IX. 581/2 The American or Spotted Turbot (Rhombus maculatus)..is common on the coasts of New England and New York. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 302 There were fish here [Jamaica] called turbot—not the least like our turbot, but of bright ultramarine and azure blue. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
turbot-boat,
turbot-fish,
turbot-fisher,
turbot-fishery,
turbot-kettle,
turbot-line,
† turbot-sprout (
sprout n.2);
turbot-like adj.| 1845 Gosse Ocean ii. (1849) 82 *Turbot-boat off Scarborough. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Turbot, the *Turbot fish. |
| 1845 Gosse Ocean ii. (1849) 82 Even the practised eye of the *turbot-fisher..fails to detect a fish when thus concealed. |
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 238 The *turbot-fishery off the British coasts. |
| 1846 A. Soyer Cookery 85 Put the whole of the turtle..into a large *turbot kettle. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Barbue,..a kind of lesse Turbot, or *Turbot-like fish, called by some, a Dab, or Sandling. |
| 1763 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 162/1 A complete sett of *turbot-lines. |
| 1324–5 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 14 In..xij *torbotes sproutes, xvj Lopsters. 1430 Ibid. 61 In..j Turbotspreute [printed -sprente]. |