alewife

Unknown. Possibly from aloof, the Narragansett name of a fish. See Winthrop on the culture of maize in America, “Phil Trans.” No. 142, p. 1065, and Baddam’s “Memoirs,” vol. ii. p. 131.
Possibly from allowes (“a type of shad”), from French alose (“shad”), from Old French [Term?], from Late Latin alausa, influenced by Etymology 1 due to large belly of the fish.

In his System of Nature, A. D. 1776, Linnæus declares, “I hereby separate the whales from the fish.” But of my own knowledge, I know that down to the year 1850, sharks and shad, alewives and herring, against Linnæus’s express edict, were still found dividing the possession of the same seas with the Leviathan.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Cetology”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 147:

I saw in Cohasset, separated from the sea only by a narrow beach, a handsome but shallow lake of some four hundred acres, […] and, after the alewives had passed into it, it had stopped up its outlet, and now the alewives were dying by thousands, and the inhabitants were apprehending a pestilence as the water evaporated.

1865, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “The Shipwreck”, in [Sophia Thoreau; William Ellery Channing], editors, Cape Cod, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 14:

Alewives are anadromous fish: Born in freshwater, they spend their lives in the ocean, returning annually to their birthplaces to spawn. Until colonial-era dams cut off their migration, hundreds of thousands of alewives would have come pouring into Rogers Lake [Connecticut, USA] every spring — and into other lakes like it along much of the Eastern Seaboard. Farmers used to apply them to their fields as fertilizer, and all along the coast, river herring festivals celebrated their arrival.

2014 April 20, Richard Conniff, “An Evolutionary Family Drama”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2014-04-21:

A migrating North American fish, Alosa pseudoharengus.


shad

From Middle English shadde, from Old English sceadd, possibly from Celtic (compare Scottish Gaelic sgadan (“herring”), Welsh ysgadan) or from Scandinavian/North Germanic (compare dialectal Norwegian skadd (“small whitefish”), Old Norse skata (“kind of fish”)), but the order of borrowing is unclear and the ultimate origin of these words is obscure.

Each river had its village and its iron bridge that the train crossed with a blast of its whistle, and the girls bathing in the icy water leaped like shad as it passed, unsettling travelers with their fleeting breasts.

2003, Gabriel García Márquez, chapter 1, in Edith Grossman, transl., Living to Tell the Tale:

Any one of several species of food fishes that make up the genus Alosa in the family Clupeidae, to which the herrings also belong; river herring.


bunker

Clipping of mossbunker, a variant of mossbanker, from Dutch marsbanker (“common scad or Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)”), from Marsdiep (“deep tide-race between Den Helder and Texel in the Netherlands”) + bank (“shallow part of the sea near a coast”) + -er (suffix forming nouns denoting male inhabitants of a place).

der

Ten hours of footage revealed the young [shark's] habits, such as diving for squid up to 150 feet deep, then moving closer to shore to feast on huge schools of bunker fish.

2024 June 24, Melanie Haiken, “Baby great white shark reveals huge nursery near NYC in scientific first”, in National Geographic:

(US, regional) The menhaden, any of several species of fish in the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium.


herring

From Middle English hering, from Old English hǣring, from Proto-West Germanic *hāring (“herring”), further etymology unknown. Possibly derived from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”) + -ing, due to the similarity of their fine bones to hair. Cognate with Scots hering, haring (“herring”), Saterland Frisian Hiering, Häiring (“herring”), West Frisian hjerring (“herring”), Dutch haring (“herring”), German Low German Hereng, Hering (“herring”), German Hering (“herring”), Bavarian Haring (“herring”). Late Latin haringus (whence French hareng, etc.) is borrowed from Germanic.

Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

A type of small, oily fish of the genus Clupea, often used as food.

Fish similar to those in genus Clupea, many of those in the order Clupeiformes.


sardine

en-verb

sardine (third-person singular simple present sardines, present participle sardining, simple past and past participle sardined)

sardines (present singular third-person)
sardining (participle present)
sardined (participle past)
sardined (past)

Borrowed from French sardine (cognate with Spanish sardina, Italian sardina), Latin sardīna; from Ancient Greek σαρδίνη (sardínē).

No one on Monhegan says they saw them, but a man sardining says he saw it headed there, or at least some boat with people atop it.

1997, Peter Landesman, The raven: a novel:


menhaden

menhaden (plural)
menhadens (plural)
menhadden (alternative)
manhaden (alternative)

From Narragansett munnawhatteaug (“they fertilize”), influenced by poghaden.

uder

Divergence of the largescaled menhadens from the small-scaled menhadens resulted either from geographic isolation or different habitat preferences.

1970, Bulletin of the Florida State Museum: Biological sciences, Florida State Museum:

Any of several species of fish in the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium, used for fish meal, fish oil, fertilizer, and bait.

步魚 /步鱼

fish of the genera Brevoortia or Ethmidium


pilchard

1839, John Hookham Frere (translator), The Birds, lines 76–77, in Acharnians and two other plays
He longs occasionally for human diet,
His old Athenian fare: pilchards, for instance.

Any of various small oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae.

sardina

a cigar-shaped fish with a short dorsal fin and forked tail


sprat

From Middle English sprotte, from Old English sprot. Older source is unknown. Cognate with German Sprotte, Dutch sprot. Compare sprout.

Any of various small, herring-like, marine fish in the genus Sprattus, in the family Clupeidae.

papalinë

any of various small marine fish in the genus Sprattus

Any of various similar fish of other genera.

The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:


sprat

en-verb

sprat (third-person singular simple present sprats, present participle spratting, simple past and past participle spratted)

sprats (present singular third-person)
spratting (participle present)
spratted (participle past)
spratted (past)

[…] spratting the land. This treatment is supplemented by about half a ton of artificial manure, largely made up of a mixture of superphosphate and some nitrogenous manure.

1923, The Agricultural Gazette and Modern Farming, volume 98, page 190:

(transitive, historical) To manure (land) with sprats (the fish).


whitefish

en-noun

whitefish (plural whitefishes or whitefish)

whitefishes (plural)
whitefish (plural)
white-fish (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-whitefish.wav

Bear Lake whitefish Prosopium abyssicola

Any of several North American freshwater fish, of the genus Coregonus, used as food.


greenie

From green + -ie. Environmentalist sense first attested in Australia in 1973, referring to trade unionists who supported green bans.


Baltic herring

Baltic herring (usually uncountable, plural Baltic herrings)

Clupea harengus membras
Clupea harengus membras#Translingual

A subspecies of Atlantic herring, (Clupea harengus membras), living in the Baltic Sea, smaller than Atlantic herring, with leaner flesh.


Atlantic herring

Atlantic herring (plural Atlantic herrings or Atlantic herring)

Atlantic herrings (plural)
Atlantic herring (plural)

Clupea harengus
Clupea harengus#Translingual

Clupea harengus, an abundant species of herring and an important food fish living in the North Atlantic.


sile

en-verb

sile (third-person singular simple present siles, present participle siling, simple past and past participle siled)

siles (present singular third-person)
siling (participle present)
siled (participle past)
siled (past)

From Middle English silen, sylen, from Middle Low German silen ("to let off water, filter, strain"; > Low German silen, sielen), equivalent to sie (“to filter, strain”) + -le. Cognate with German sielen (“let off water, filter”), Swedish sila (“to strain, filter, sift”), German Siel (“drain, sewer, sluice”).

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To go; pass.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England) To pour with rain.


sile

From Middle English *sile, from Old Norse síl (“herring”), from Proto-Germanic *sīlą, *sīlō (“herring”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Icelandic síld (“herring”), Norwegian and Danish sild (“herring”), dialectal Swedish sil (“young fish, fry”). Compare sild.


skipjack

Any of several not closely related fish.


brisling

From Norwegian brisling and Danish brisling, from Low German bretling, from bret (“broad”), from Middle Low German *brêd, from Old Saxon brēd.

Sprattus sprattus
Sprattus sprattus#Translingual

A sprat (small herring), especially Sprattus sprattus.


sea rover

Compare Danish sørøver, German Seeräuber, Norwegian sjørøver, Swedish sjörövare.

(British, colloquial, archaic) A herring.


gaspereau

en-noun

gaspereau (plural gaspereaus or gaspereaux)

From French gaspereau, a variant of gaspareau.

(Canada, dated) An alewife (type of fish).


clupeid

The open water expanses of the lake have been occupied mainly by two species of clupeids, as well as by Eutropius niloticus and Physailia pellucida.

1973, Willis A. Evans, John Vanderpuye, “Early Development of Fish Populations and Fisheries of Volta Lake”, in William C. Ackermann, Gilbert F. White, E. B. Worthington, editors, Man-Made Lakes: Their Problems and Environmental Effects, page 117:

In the pelagic zone of Lake Tanganyika, the endemic clupeids are planktivores which migrate surfacewards at night (cf. marine clupeids, p. 227).

1987, R. H. Lowe-McConnell, Ecological Studies in Tropical Fish Communities, page 90:

Although most marine fishes studied thus far cannot detect sound frequencies above about 500 Hz, at least some clupeids can detect considerably higher frequencies.

2008, Gene Helfman, Bruce B. Collette, Douglas E. Facey, Brian W. Bowen, The Diversity of Fishes: Biology, Evolution, and Ecology, page 80:

Any of many soft-finned fish of the family Clupeidae.


matjes herring

matjes herring (plural matjes herrings or matjes herring)

matjes herrings (plural)
matjes herring (plural)

From Dutch maatjesharing (“matjes herring”), from maatjes (“young, small”) + haring (“herring”), from earlier forms maetgens-, maeghdekins-, medykens- (“maiden-like”), from maagd (“maiden”) + -kin (“-kin”), so called because matjes herring is made of young herring that has never spawned.

Young filleted herring that has been matured for a short time in brine and prepared traditionally with vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices.


alose

Borrowed from French alose, from Latin alausa, from unattested Gaulish *alausa. Cognate with German Alse.

Any of certain shad
American shad (Alosa sapidissima).


blueback

A Beardslee trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus f. beardsleei).


allice

Both species of this fish resemble an overgrown herring: of these the allice is the largest, being often met with of as much as two feet in length[…]

1843, William Hughes, Fish, how to choose and how to dress, page 105:


Pacific herring

Pacific herring (plural Pacific herring)

A species of the herring family native to north Pacific Ocean from Yellow Sea to Baja California; Clupea pallasii.


kiack

Common names for the alewife are gaspereau, river herring, sawbelly, or kiack.

2007, “Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)”, in Fisheries and Aquaculture—Government of Nova Scotia, retrieved 2011-11-30:

Finally, I visited a group of kiack fishermen down in Argyle. This was a new fishery to me. The kiack (also called gaspereau and alewife in other areas) is fished with a dip net out of small brooks in the Tusket River area.

2010, William Casselman, Nova Scotia Fish Word: Kiack, www.billcasselman.com (retrieved 29 Nov. 2011)

(Canada) Alosa pseudoharengus, a species of small freshwater fish, also known as the alewife.


matie

maties (plural)
mattie (alternative)
matty (alternative)

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(UK and Scotland, archaic) A fat herring with undeveloped roe.


sawbelly

Every few minutes an eagle would reach daintily into the water and pluck a dead sawbelly from the half-frozen soup. Sawbellies, or alewives, are fish that do not grow that big. A full day of dipping one’s naked talons into frigid slush might yield a decent mealful.

1990 January 2, Rick Marsi, “The Russian bear can’t beat the Tier’s gray fox”, in Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y., →ISSN, page 1D, column 4:


pickle-herring

The first who made the experiment was a merry-andrew, who was put into my hands by a neighbouring justice of peace, in order to reclaim him from that profligate kind of life. Poor Pickle-herring had not taken above one turn in it, when he came out of the cave, like a hermit from his cell, with a penitential look and a most rueful countenance.

1714 September 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “TUESDAY, September 14, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 599; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:


clupeoid

en-adj

clupeoid (comparative more clupeoid, superlative most clupeoid)

more clupeoid (comparative)
most clupeoid (superlative)

(zoology) Of or relating to fish closely related taxonomically to herring.


clupeoid

(zoology) Any of a group of fish closely related taxonomically to herring.


mossbanker

mossbankers (plural)
marshbanker (alternative)
mossbunker (alternative)


pauhagen

Related to poghaden; probably ultimately from Abenaki or Penobscot.


poghaden

Related to pauhagen; probably ultimately from Abenaki or Penobscot.


sperling

sperlings (plural)
spirling (alternative)
spurling (alternative)

Osmerus eperlanus
Osmerus eperlanus#Translingual

(Scotland, obsolete) A European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus).


garvock

(Scotland) A fish, garvie or sprat (Sprattus sprattus).


twaite

Uncertain. First known reference is from 1609.

(dialectal) A fish, the twaite shad, Alosa fallax


dotted gizzard shad

en-noun

dotted gizzard shad (plural dotted gizzard shads or dotted gizzard shad)

dotted gizzard shads (plural)
dotted gizzard shad (plural)

Konosirus punctatus
Konosirus punctatus#Translingual

A species of fish (Konosirus punctatus) native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean, where it occurs along the Asian coastline.


allis shad

allis shad (plural)
allice shad (alternative)

A herring-like fish (Alosa alosa), of the eastern Atlantic that migrates to fresh water to spawn.


hilsa

Tenualosa ilisha, a fish in the herring family, and a popular food fish in South Asia.


sardinella

sardinella (plural sardinellas or sardinella)

sardinellas (plural)
sardinella (plural)

The small pelagic fish like anchovies, sardines and sardinella are all abundant species in EBUEs where they all have pelagic egg distributions.

2015 October 15, “The Principles of Buoyancy in Marine Fish Eggs and Their Vertical Distributions across the World Oceans”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:


twaite shad

twaite shads (plural)
twait shad (alternative)

A fish in the herring family Clupeidae, Alosa fallax, found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.


shadine

A fish, the menhaden or American sardine.


gizzard shad

Any of several species of shad-like fish of Indo-Pacific waters, principally in subfamily Dorosomatinae of the herring family Clupeidae.


pellonulid

Any freshwater herring of the subfamily Pellonulinae


choke-children

From choke + children. The fish is noted for its boniness, which could prove a choking-hazard to children. May be related to folklore surrounding the Cornish saint St. Leven.

(obsolete) A fish, the allis shad (Alosa alosa) or rock herring.


old wife

From Middle English ald wyf, eld wiif, olde wyffe.

A species of perciform fish endemic to the temperate coastal waters of Australia (Enoplosus armatus)


mossyback

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-mossyback.wav

From mossy + back (in sense 2 (“person who stayed hidden to evade conscription during the American Civil War”) probably a variant of mossback, which is attested earlier), alluding to someone or something that is so old or has remained so unmoving that it is as if moss has grown on them or it.
Sense 3.2 (“menhaden”) may be influenced by mossbunker.

(informal, historical, obsolete) Synonym of mossback (“a person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865)”)


dorab

A dorab wolf-herring (Chirocentrus dorab).


Picton herring

Sardina pilchardus
Sardina pilchardus#Translingual

European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus; not a true herring).


American shad

Alosa sapidissima, an anadromous clupeid fish naturally distributed on the North American coast of the North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Florida, and as an introduced species on the North Pacific coast.


European sprat

A fish of European waters from the Black Sea to the North Sea and the Baltic sea (Sprattus sprattus).