frostfish

English

Etymology

From frost +‎ fish. In the case of the tomcod, so called because it is abundant on the New England coast in autumn at about when frost comes.

Noun

frostfish (plural frostfishes or frostfish)

1. The tomcod.
2. (US, dialect) The smelt.
3. (New Zealand) The scabbardfish.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “frostfish”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)