Definition of cockabully in English:
cockabully
nounPlural cockabulliesˈkɒkəbʊli
NZ A small blunt-nosed freshwater fish related to the sleepers.
Genus Gobiomorphus, family Gobiidae (or Eleotridae)
Example sentencesExamples
- It was like looking down at a rock pool: the cockabullies squirting away from under a rock, the crabs, the minuscule life.
- Other fish - cockabullies and an occasional eel - are returned to the river.
- Fish such as giant kokopu and smelt sometimes turn up in nets along with the young of other fish including eels, trout and cockabullies.
- Every now and then we would slip away to fish for sprats and cockabullies.
- He has been a fisherman for as long as he can remember, starting with eels and cockabullies to the current day, where anything that swims is in potential danger.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Maori kokopu.