DCHP-1 Online
merchantable Esp. Nfld 
adj. See 1883 quote.
- 1779 (1911) [They] turned out two hundred and eighty-seven quintals of merchantable fish.
- 1837 Merchantable Dry Cod is selling in Halifax at 17s. 6d.
- 1883 When thoroughly dried [cod] have a whitish appearance and are then ready for storing. In due time they reach the merchant's wharf or store, where they are weighed and "culled" or sorted into four different kinds called Merchantable (the best), Madiera, West India (intended for the consumption of the Negroes) and Dun, or broken fish, which will not keep, and is intended for home use.
- 1957 Durned old fool got lippy about the cull. Trying to tell me his sunburned fish should have gone merchantable.
- 1779 (1911) [They] turned out two hundred and eighty-seven quintals of merchantable fish.