barracouta loaf

English

Etymology

After the regional name for a thin, metre-long fish, from the shape of the loaf and its rough crust, thought to resemble the back of the fish.

Noun

barracouta loaf (plural barracouta loaves)

1. (New Zealand) A long, narrow loaf, often indented in the middle so that it can be broken in two.
   • 1918, Katherine Mansfield, “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories‎^[2], Toronto: Macmillan, published 1920, page 53:

     Alice was making water-cress sandwiches. She had a lump of butter on the table, a barracouta loaf, and the cresses tumbled in a white cloth.

   • 2000, anonymous author, “Home Town”, in Gordon McLauchlan, editor, Morrieson’s Motel‎^[3], Auckland: Tandem Press, page 199:

     As Clarry remembered we were a big family—a twenty-five double barracouta loaves and fifteen pints a week family.