muttonfish

muttonfish

English

Etymology

From mutton +‎ fish.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

muttonfish (plural muttonfish or muttonfishes)

1. (chiefly US) Any of several Atlantic and Caribbean fishes which are said to taste of mutton, especially the mutton snapper, Lutjanus analis, the ocean pout, Macrozoarces americanus, or the Irish pompano, Diapterus auratus. [from 18th c.]
2. (Australia) Any of several edible molluscs of the genus Haliotis; an abalone. [from 19th c.]
   • 1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador 2014, p. 28:

     Some mornings when the tide was right out we went onto the reef with screwdrivers to prise off abalone, which we called muttonfish.