bêche-de-mern.
a. A marine animal, an echinoderm ( Holothuria edulis), called also Trepang, Sea-cucumber, Sea-slug, eaten as a luxury by the Chinese. Hence a verb to bêche-de-mer.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > subphylum Eleutherozoa > class Holothurioidea > order Actinopoda > member of genus Holothuria
sea-slug1779
swallo1779
trepang1783
sea-swallow1802
bêche-de-mer1814
cotton-fish1851
cotton-spinner1908
1814 Flinders Voy. Terra Austr. in Penny Cycl. XII. 270/2 The beche-de-mer, or sea-cucumber, which we had first seen on the reefs of the east coast.
1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §1023 Those who go bêche-de-mer-ing, as the employment is commonly termed.
1849 W. T. Power Sketches in N.Z. xxiii. 216 The bêche-de-mer and shark-fins, both of which..are valuable articles of trade with China.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. ‘Extra’ 24 July 20/2 This so-called ‘Bêche de Mer’ is a sea-slug, found among the Polynesian islands and in the Pacific seas generally.
1947 I. L. Idriess Isles of Despair xxxviii. 251 The venturesome crews had found a rich patch of bêche-de-mer.
b. = Beach-la-mar n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > pidgins and creoles > [noun] > English-based > Beach-La-Mar
Beach-la-mar1911
bêche-de-mer1911
Sandalwood English1922
Bislama1971
1911 J. London Cruise of Snark xvi Bêche de mer English was the product of conditions and circumstances.
1951 Amer. Speech 26 25 The pidgin of Hawaii differs markedly from the pidgin English..of the China coast, the pidgin of Melanesia, and the bêche-de-mer of the western Pacific.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1814