pellack

English

Etymology

Compare Gaulish peileag.

Noun

pellack (plural pellacks)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, archaic) A porpoise.
2. 1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, OCLC 17487293:

   Did not the devil appear in the midst of the Tay, dressed in a priest's scapular, gambolling like a pellack amongst the waves

References

• pellack in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913