1. A young or small cod. (In early cookery often treated as a distinct fish; and prob. the name included allied species of smaller size.)
1314. in Wandr. Acc. 8 Edw. II., 21/12. I codling 12d.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 41. Take turbot, haddok, and gode codlyng.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 642/16. Hic mullus, codlyng. Ibid. (c. 1475), 763. Hic crocodolus, a codlyng.
1513. W. de Worde, Bk. Keruynge, B iv a. Makrell & whytynge, haddocke and codlynge.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Temple, 61. Whose linnen-drapery is a thin, Subtile, and ductile codlin’s skin.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 245. Called … Codling, because it is no longer than a Cod, and yet hath the taste of Ling.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, 324. How several sorts of Fish are named, according to their Age or Growth … A Codd, first a Whiting, then a Codling, then a Codd.
1740. R. Brookes, Art of Angling, II. xxx. 138. The Cod…; those that are small are call’d Codlings.
1865. J. G. Bertram, Harvest Sea, x. (1873), 206. Smoked codlings are extensively sold for Finnan haddocks.
1877. Blackie, Wise Men, 71.
| I knew a fisherman | |
| Who vouched me once a single cod contains | |
| Some hundred myriad codlings in its roe. |
b. attrib.
1496. Bk. St. Albans, Fishing, 34. To take hym [pyke] … Take a codlynge hoke.
2. In America applied to fishes of the genus Phycis, allied to the cod.
