DCHP-1 Online

tom-cod † 

• 1 n. See 1784 quote.

  • 1779  (1792)  At sunset we hauled the seine by the stage, but took only a few . . . small tom-cods.
  • 1784  The bait is small fish of all kinds: Herring, Capelin, Lance, Tom Cod. . . .
  • 1838  "The Endgians . . . used to make a sort o' fish flakes, and catch herrin' and tom cods . . . and put 'em on the flakes, and then crawl onder themselves."
  • 1943  I go through the quaint village of Poulamon--named from the Acadian French word for the small cod-fish or "tom-cod."

• 2a n. a small food fish, Microgadus tomcod, of the St. Lawrence River and adjacent waters.

  See also: tommy-cod (def. 1)  

  • 1828  Trout, smelt, tom-cod, and perch, are caught in winter with a hook and line, through a hole in the ice.
  • 1860  We presume the intention of fishing trout, tom-cods and smelts would warrant the issuing a license, under which a farmer's marshes might be thrown open.
  • 1866  The Tom-Cod, sometimes called also the Frost-fish . . . the Petite Morue Fraiche, Tacaud, and Gode Mollet of the French-Canadians, is peculiar I believe to North America.
  • 1944  Tom-cod . . . may be had all the year round by jigging.

• 2b n. a related fish, Microgadus proximus, of the Pacific Coast.

  • 1960  The gray cod is readily distinguishable from its relatives the tomcod and whiting, by the long barbel on the lower jaw.

• 3 n. North any of several small fish of the cod family, as Boreogadus saida or Eleginus navaga, found in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters, or the loche.

  See also: loche  

  • 1928  . . . tom-cod . . . are small cod, and our method was to catch them through holes in the ice.
  • 1948  Nulaiyuk who controls the spirits of the mammals of the sea . . . down to even that of the lowly torn cod.
  • 1953  Two of the hunters untoggled the bow lines of his huskies, and others brought frozen tomcod for the team.
  • 1956  Soon, however, they discover that shrimps are easy to catch and later they realize that tomcod and sculpin taste quite as good as milk.