Eel

Forms: 1 ǽl, eol, 1–6 ele, 5–7 eele, 6 Sc. eill, (5 ȝele, 6 ye(e)le, 7 yeel), 6– eel. [Com. Teut.: OE. ǽl = MDu. ael (Du. aal), OHG. âl (Ger. aal), ON. áll (Da. aal, Sw. ål):—OTeut. ælo-z. The ultimate etymology is unknown; the hypothesis that the word is cogn. with the synonymous L. anguilla, Gr. ἔγχελυς, is untenable.]

  1.  a. The name of a genus (Anguilla) of soft-finned osseous fishes, strongly resembling snakes in external appearance. The best-known species are the Common or Sharp-nosed Eel (A. anguilla) found both in Europe and in America, and the Broad-nosed Eel or GRIG (A. latirostris). The true eels are fresh-water fishes, but migrate to the sea to spawn. b. Used (both in popular and in scientific language) as the name of the entire family Murænidæ, comprising the true eels with several other genera, notably the CONGER.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Colloq., in Wr.-Wülcker, 94. Hwilce fixas ʓefehst þu? Ælas and hacodas [etc.].

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 308. Hrefnes geallan … & eles, & feld beon huniʓ meng to somne.

1052–67.  Chart. Eadweard, in Cod. Dipl., IV. 242. Foure þousend eol in lenton to carite to ðe abbot.

a. 1300.  Havelok, 897. A carte lode … Of grete laumprees, and of eles.

c. 1420.  Liber Cocorum (1862), 50. Fyrst flyghe þyn elys, in pese hom smyte.

1528.  More, Heresyes, I. Wks. (1557), 165/2. A blynde bagge full of snakes and eles together.

1528.  Paynell, Salerne Regim., O iij b. The yele is an vnholsome fyshe.

1586.  Cogan, Haven Health, clxxvi. (1612), 140. An old yeele is wholsomer than a yong.

1671.  Salmon, Syn. Med., III. lxxxi. 707. The fat … of a mole, eele, or serpent.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 538, ¶ 3. They passed to eels, then to parsnips, and so from one aversion to another.

1802.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), III. 2. The Common Eel … forms a connecting link … between the serpents and the fishes.

1866.  Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 27. It is a lucky eel that escapes skinning.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxi. 237. The silver-bellied eel or bed-eel. This … corresponds to the sharp-nosed eel.

  c.  In fig. phrases, as the type of something ‘slippery.’

1524.  Dk. Norfolk, in St. Papers Hen. VIII., IV. 224. Whosoever have hym best, is no more sure of hym, than he that hath an ele by the tayle.

c. 1600[?].  Distracted Emp., V. iv. in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 258. They have sweete eeles to hould by.

1791.  Newte, Tour Eng. & Scot., 374. He may possibly take an eel by the tail in marrying a wife.

  † d.  Salt eel: a rope’s end used for flogging. Obs. [From the use of an eel-skin as a whip.]

1663.  Pepys, Diary, 24 April. With my salt eele went down in the parler and there got my boy and did beat him.

1699.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Salt-eel, a Rope’s end used to Drub the Boies and Sailors on board of Ship.

  2.  Applied popularly to various other fishes resembling eels in their snake-like form. Electric eel: = GYMNOTUS. Nine-eyed eel: the River Lamprey. Sand eel: the Launce or Ammodyte.

a. 1705.  Ray, Syn. Piscium (1713), 154. Sand-eel [Given as a synonym for the launce].

1810.  P. Neill, Fishes in Forth, 30 (Jam.). Lesser Lamprey … The popular name Nine-eyed-eel arises from the spiracles being taken for eyes.

  3.  The popular name for the minute animals (resembling an eel in shape) found in vinegar (Anguillula aceti) and in sour paste (A. glutinis). They are Entozoa of the order Nematoidea.

1746.  Sherwood, in Phil. Trans., XLIV. 67. The Eels in sour Paste are the Animalcules in Question.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., The long bodied animalcules, discovered by the microscope in vinegar, sour paste, [etc.] … have … been generally distinguished by the name of Eels.

1881.  Carpenter, Microscope (ed. 6), 695. Anguillulæ or ‘Eels’ of the microscopist.

  4.  U.S. A nickname for a New Englander.

1837–40.  Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 318. The eels of New England, and the corn-crackers of Virginia.

  5.  General comb.: a. attributive, as eel-boat, -freak, -fry, -line, -man, -net, -oil, -pie, -river, -trap, weir, and eel-like adj. and adv.; b. objective, as eel-catching, fisher, -netting.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, vi. 43. These *eel-boats are precisely like the Noah’s arks of childhood. Ibid., xxxi. 236–7. Naturalists can only rely upon the observations of those whose occupation is connected with *eel-catching. Ibid., vi. 43. Through the night the *eel-fisher sits in his cabin … waiting for the eels the stream will bring to his net. Ibid., xxxi. 235. The *eel-fisheries are nearly as valuable as the salmon-fisheries.

1882.  Blackw. Mag., Jan., 101. This singular *eel-freak. Ibid. Thousands and thousands of *eel-fry all alive in the bodies of eels.

1685.  Boyle, Effects of Mot., iv. 41. The *Eel-like particles of water.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, vii. Eel-like positions.

1871.  B. Taylor, Faust, I. iii. 27. *Eel-like gliding, Skipping and hiding.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xix. 137. Formerly *eel-lines, with a thousand hooks strung on at intervals … used to be set. Ibid., xxxii. 251. The *eelmen, living so much on the water … become very observant. Ibid., xix. 141. The *eel-net is set across the dyke to catch them [eels] in its long ‘poke.’

1769.  Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1776), 155. An *Eel Pye.

1849.  Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk., Ser. II. 340/1. Monstrellet mentions horseloads of eel-pies brought from Mantes to the market of Paris.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxii. 249. The Yare is the best *eel-river of all.

1879.  Lubbock, Sci. Lect., i. 5. The bladders are on the principle of an *eel-trap, having a closed entrance with a flap which permits an easy entrance, but effectually prevents the unfortunate victim from getting out again.

1868.  Peard, Water-farm., xvii. 180. At various points in the course of the rivers *eel-weirs are placed.

  6.  Special comb.: eel-babber, -bobber, = BOBBER² 2; eel-basket, a trap of basket-work with funnel-shaped entrance, allowing the eels to enter, but preventing their escape; eel-backed a. (see quot.); eel-bob (see BOB sb.¹ 7); eel-buck (see BUCK sb.⁴); eel-cake (see quots.); eel-crow (see quot.); eel-fork = EEL-SPEAR; eel-grass, U.S., a name for GRASS-WRACK (Zostera marina), and for other grass-like sea and river weeds; eel-hut, the hut occupied by an eel-fisher when engaged in fishing; eel-leap, dial. [LEAP basket] = eel-basket; eel-pick = EEL-SPEAR; eel-picker, one who fishes with an eel-pick; eel-pot = eel-buck; so eel-picking vbl. sb.; eel-putchon, -set, -setter, -setting, -trunk (see quots.); eel-ware, Ranunculus fluitans (Britten and Holland); eel-weel (misspelt -wheel) = eel-buck.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxi. 237. The bunch of worms strung on worsted with which the *eel-babber works.

1726.  Dict. Rusticum, *Eel-Back’d Horses, such as have black Lists along their Backs.

1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 196. Hand lines … snares and *eel-bobs; Indian fishing lines.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, v. 40. An eel-fisher … threading lob-worms on to worsted for the purpose of making an *eel-bob.

1866.  Sat. Rev., 21 April, 471/1. The present alleged fishery rights for netting and *eel-bucks are to be revised.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxi. 235. On the Thames, Severn, and other rivers, the eels are intercepted in their descent by weirs or frameworks holding basket-work traps, called ‘eel-bucks.’

1653.  Walton, Angler, x. 188–9. Small Eeles … the poorer sort … make a kind of *Eele-cake of them, and eat it like as bread.

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 213. *Eel crow [given as the popular name of Columbus migratorius].

1864.  Lowell, Fireside Trav., 45. The kelp and *eel-grass left by higher floods.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxii. 250. In these lonely *eel-huts … the eel-fishers sat watching their nets.

1877.  E. Peacock, N.-W. Linc. Gloss. (E. D. S.), *Eel-leap, an eel-trap made of wicker-work.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxi. 238. They [eels] work down into the soft mud, far beyond the reach of *eel picks and darts. Ibid., xxvi. 203. The *eel-picker in his little punt … is a common object on the flats. Ibid., xix. 143. *Eel-picking is an art in which some men attain considerable skill…. Sometimes an eel-picking match takes place on the Broad.

1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 8. *Eel Pot, for use in salt water. Ibid. (ed. 4), 125. *Eel Putchons … are the ordinary eel baskets that are baited and placed in the river during the spring and summer months for eels.

157[?].  H. Manship, Gt. Yarmouth, in G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxvii. 214–5 Certen *ele settes.… All soch fishe as usually are tacon in the seid settes.

1882.  Blackw. Mag., Jan., 97. Eelsets … are nets set athwart the stream for the purpose of catching a … species of eel. Ibid., 98. The oldest Norfolk *eel-setters.

1883.  G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads, xxxii. 250. This [ebb and flow of the tide] militates against *eel-setting.

1877.  E. Peacock, N.-W. Linc. Gloss. (E. D. S.), *Eel-trunk, a box with holes in the sides in which eels are kept alive till wanted for the table.

1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 57. *Eel Wheels or Traps. Lampern Spurts.