[f. BRAND sb. + -LING; from the color or markings.]
1. A worm of a red color variegated with rings or bands of brighter coloring, used as bait by anglers.
1651. T. Barker, Art of Angling (1820), 3. Brandlin.
1653. Walton, Angler, 94. For a Brandling, hee is usually found in an old dunghil.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. ii. 336. The Brandlings are generally found in Cow or Hog’s Dung.
1854. Badham, Halieut., 274. A gudgeon being incapable of refusing a lively young brandling.
1880. Boys Own Bk., 264. The brandling and gilt tail are excellent bait for Perch.
2. dial. A local name of the salmon parr; formerly regarded as a species of trout.
c. 1730. Burt, Lett. N. Scotl. (1818), I. 121. A little trout … called in the North of England a branlin.
1802. J. Wilson (Congleton), MS. Lett., 17 April to J. Boucher, Brandling, a small Trout. Cumb.
1880–4. J. Day, Fishes Gt. Britain, II. 68. The Salmon … From one to two years old, before it has gone to the sea, it is known as a parr, pink, smolt, smelt, salmon-fry, sprag, or salmon-spring, samlet, brandling, fingerling, etc., etc.
