DCHP-1 Online

catfish

• n. any of a number of North American fish, family letaluridae, having barbels suggesting a cat's whiskers.

  See also: barbue  

  • 1620  What should I spake of . . . Catfish, Millers, thunnes, &c.
  • 1791  There are few fish except eels, cat fish, and pike. . . .
  • 1852  At the next stake he found upon the hooks a large eel and a catfish.
  • 1965  Most Canadians dismiss . . . catfish, alewife and others as impossible to eat. . . .