A net for landing large fish.
1653. Walton, Angler, ii. 60. Reach me that Landing net.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 15. A landing net, to land large fish with, and which are made with joints to fold up in a small compass.
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxvi. Fishing-rods, and landing-nets.
1885. Athenæum, 1 Aug., 136/3. Mr. Webster does not appear to use any landing-net, which increases the difficulty of capturing fish.
b. transf. ‘A pair of forceps with a small net attached to the blade, devised by A. Buchanan, for the removal of the calculus from the bladder in lithotomy’ (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1888).
