wrassen.
/ras/, U.S. /ræs/ 1.
a. One or other species belonging to the acanthopterygian family Labridæ or esp. the genus Labrus of bony, thick-lipped, marine fishes; esp. the ballan (the ‘old wife’, Labrus maculatus) or the striped, red, or cook species ( L. mixtus), found on the British coasts.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Labrioidei (wrasse) > [noun] > family Labridae > member of (wrasse)
old wife1585
merle1601
rockfish1605
cook fish1611
wrasse1686
wroth1750
bergle1795
partridge1890
bluehead1919
1686 F. Willughby & J. Ray De Hist. Piscium 319 Turdus vulgatissimus, Tincti marini Venetis: Cornub. Wrasse.
1686 F. Willughby & J. Ray De Hist. Piscium 320 Cornubiensibus Wrasse dicitur.
a1705 J. Ray Synopsis Avium & Piscium (1713) ii. 136 Turdus vulgatissimus,..the Wrasse, or Old Wife.
1752 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. III. 249 The Wrasse, or Old-wife,..is frequent in the Mediterranean.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VI. 307 The Labrus or Wrasse [has] the body oval; the head middling; the lips doubled inward.
1860 P. H. Gosse Romance Nat. Hist. 295 The brilliant wrasses dart out and in, decked in scarlet and green.
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 686/2 Some 450 species of wrasses..are known.
b. With distinguishing epithet. comber wrasse, cook wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, rainbow wrasse, red wrasse, small-mouthed wrasse, striped wrasse: see these words.
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1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 203 Wrasse... Bimaculated Wrasse. Labrus bimaculata... Trimaculated Wrasse... Striped Wrasse... Gibbous Wrasse.
1776 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4, octavo) III. iv. Pl. xlvii Comber Wrasse. Antient Wrasse.
1836 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Fishes I. 279–291 The Green-streaked Wrasse... Red Wrasse, Three-spotted Wrasse [etc.].
1840 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 310 L. Lineatus, the Lineal-streaked,..L. variegatus, the Blue-streaked,..L. carneus, the Three-spotted Wrasse.
1848 S. Maunder Treasury Nat. Hist. 748/2 Wrasse (Labrus.), there are several species of this Acanthopterygious fish, viz...the Cook Wrasse or Blue-striped Wrasse (L. variegatus), the Comber Wrasse (L. comber).
1874 J. Couch Hist. Fishes Brit. Islands III. 30–41 Green Wrass... Scale-rayed Wrasse... Small-mouthed wrass. [etc.].
c. New Zealand. (See quots.)
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Labrioidei (wrasse) > [noun] > family Labridae > member of genus Labrichthys (spotty)
parrotfish1656
spotty1872
wrasse1872
1872 J. Hector Fishes N. Zealand 108 A small Wrasse,..called the Spotty or Poddly.
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 518/2 Wrasse, this English name..is given, in New Zealand, to Labrichthys bothryocosmus, Richards. Called also Poddly, Spotty, and Kelp-fish.
2. Without article: Wrasses collectively.
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1750 R. Heath Nat. & Hist. Acct. Scilly 45 The Fish are..Pilchards, Hake, Wrass, Whistlers.
1766 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. i. 36 Where the whistling fish, wraws, and polacks resort.
1878 P. Thomson in Trans. N. Zealand Institute XI. 384 Wrasse, Parrotfish, and Spotties are often in the market.
1883 All Year Round 16 June 16/1 The bill of fare of a family of the neolithic period... They had mullet and wrasse, dogfish and skate.
3. attributive, as wrasse family, wrasse-fish.
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1840 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 309 Labridæ (the Wrasse, or Rock-fish Family).
1890 Cent. Dict. at Labrus Wrasse-fish (Labrus maculatus).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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