Adjacent Words

capelin definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: very small northern fish; forage for sea birds and marine mammals and other fishes [syn: capelin, capelan, caplin]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Canadian French capelan, from French, codfish, from Old Occitan, chaplain, codfish, from Medieval Latin cappellanus chaplain — more at chaplain Date: 1620 a small northern sea fish (Mallotus villosus) of the smelt family

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (also caplin) a small smeltlike fish, Mallotus villosus, of the N. Atlantic, used as food and as bait for catching cod etc. Etymology: F f. Prov. capelan: see CHAPLAIN

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Capelin Cape"lin, n. [Cf. F. capelan, caplan.] (Zo["o]l.) A small marine fish (Mallotus villosus) of the family Salmonid[ae], very abundant on the coasts of Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Alaska. It is used as a bait for the cod. [Written also capelan and caplin.] Note: This fish, which is like a smelt, is called by the Spaniards anchova, and by the Portuguese capelina. --Fisheries of U. S. (1884).