| 释义 |
ˈsun-fish, n.
Also sunfish.
1. A name for various fishes, of rounded form or brilliant appearance, or that bask in the sun.
a. Any fish of the genus Mola (also called Orthagoriscus or Cephalus), comprising large fishes of singularly rounded and ungainly form, found in various seas.
b. Any one of the various species of Lepomis, Pomotis, and related genera, small fresh-water fishes abundant in N. America.
c. A name for the basking shark: see basking ppl. a. 2.
d. The opah, Lampris luna or guttatus.
e. A local name for fishes of the genus Selene; = moon-fish c.
a.1629Higginson Jrnl. in Hutchinson Papers (Prince Soc.) I. 43 A large round fish sayling by the ship's side, about a yard in length and roundness [printed rounders] every way. The mariners called it a sunne fish; it spreadeth out the finnes like beames on every side 4 or 5. 1686Ray Willughby's Hist. Piscium 151–2. 1734 Phil. Trans. XLI. 343 A Sun-fish weighing about 500 Pound Weight. 1804Shaw Gen. Zool. V. ii. 438 The Short Sun-Fish is a native of the European seas..: its general appearance rather represents the head of some large fish than a complete animal. Ibid. 439 Oblong Sun-Fish... Variegated Sun-Fish. Ibid. 440 Pallasian Sun-Fish. 1839T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 212 The ugly sun-fish now and then came floating by. 1879E. P. Wright Anim. Life 456 The Short Sun Fish (Orthagoriscus mola) is not rare on the west coast of Ireland.
b.1685Penn Furth. Acc. Pennsylv. 9 There is the Catfish, or Flathead..Perch, black and white, Smelt, Sunfish, &c. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 482 In the lakes, yellow⁓perch, sun-fish, salmon-trout. 1888Goode Amer. Fishes 67 The Blue Sun-fish, Lepomis pallidus, is also known as the ‘Blue Bream’.
c.1746C. Smith State of Waterford xi. 271 This coast is pretty much frequented by Porpoises, Sun-fish, Seals, &c. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 714/2 Squalus... The maximus, basking shark, or the sun-fish of the Irish. 1886Ibid. XXI. 777/2 The Basking Shark (Selache maxima), sometimes erroneously called ‘Sun-Fish’..may be seen in calm weather..motionless, with the upper part of the back raised above the surface of the water, a habit which it has in common with the true sun-fish (Orthagoriscus).
d.1884Encycl. Brit. XVII. 777/1 Opah (Lampris luna)... From its habit of coming to the surface in calm weather, showing its high dorsal fin above the water, it has also received the name of ‘sun-fish’.
e.1884Googe Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 322 Selene setipinnis..known..in North Carolina as the ‘Moonfish’ or ‘Sunfish’.
†2. A kind of starfish with numerous rays: cf. sun-starfish s.v. sun n.1 13 b. Obs.
1681Grew Musæum i. v. iv. 124 A Star-Fish with Twelve Rays; by some called Sun-Fish.
3. U.S. colloq. A manner of bucking. Cf. sunfish v.
1903Wide World Mag. Mar. 548 A broncho named ‘E.A.’..used a combination of ‘sunfish’ and ‘twister’. 1939P. A. Rollins Gone Haywire 260 One prodigious forward jump, then a ‘sunfish’, and the beast raced into a ‘circle buck’.
Hence ˈsunˌfishery, the occupation of fishing for sun-fish.
1848Brabazon Fisheries Irel. v. 51 The Sun Fishery is not confined to the Sun Fish bank of Clew Bay. |