muttonfish
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]muttonfish (plural muttonfish or muttonfishes)
- (chiefly US) Any of several Atlantic and Caribbean fishes which are said to taste of mutton, especially a mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis), an ocean pout (Macrozoarces americanus), or an Irish pompano (Diapterus auratus). [from 18th c.]
- (Australia) Any of several edible molluscs of the genus Haliotis; an abalone. [from 19th c.]
- 1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador, published 2014, page 28:
- Some mornings when the tide was right out we went onto the reef with screwdrivers to prise off abalone, which we called muttonfish.