preken.
/priːk/, U.S. /prik/ Now historical.
An octopus; a cuttlefish.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Cephalopoda > [noun] > order Dibranchiata > section Octopoda > family Octopodidae > member of
polypus?1527
pourcuttle1585
preke1611
sea spider1858
devil fish1866
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Poulpe,..the Pourcontrell, Preke, or many-footed fish.
1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 18 Love is like honour,..like unto the Pourcontrell, or Peake [sic] fish, who becomes of the same colour the things are, whereon it fastens.
1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis i. v. iv. 121 The Preke or Poulps, Polypus.
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xiii. 108 You are likewise to abstain from Beans, from the Preak, (by some called the Polyp) [Fr. poulpe (qu'on nomme Polype)].
a1717 W. Diaper tr. Oppian Halieuticks (1722) i. 21 The pois'nous Creeper, and the changing Preke The secret Caverns of the Ocean seek.
1759 Philos. Trans. 1758 (Royal Soc.) 50 778 The Polypus, particularly so called, the Octopus, Preke, or Pour-contrel.
1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 250/2 Octopus... This is the Eight-armed Cuttle of Pennant; the Poulp or Preke of the English.
1894 Evening Standard 10 Jan. 1/1 Oppians account of the capture of the precke and sargo.
1996 Catching Stories 70 My father, my grandfather, all the fishermen, we used to call them preaks. ‘We caught a preak last night.’ We used to turn 'em inside out and throw 'em away.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1611