Also 5 lus(e, luyss, luyȝs, lewse, 6 leuse. [a. OF. lus, luis, repr. late L. lūcius.] The pike (Esox lucius), esp. when full grown.
[1338. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 35. In j Luc’ pro Suppriore, iij d.]
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 350. Many a breem and many a luce in stewe.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 704/34. Hic lucius, a lewse.
14[?]. Two Cookery-bks., 113. Nym luyss or tenge, or other manere fish.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 173. The best Pikes and Luces, were thought to be in the Riuer of Tyber.
1653. Walton, Angler, vii. 142. The Luce, or Pikrell, or Pike breeds by Spawning.
1740. R. Brookes, Art of Angling, I. xxxi. 68. The Pike, Luce or Pickerel … with us in England is a very common Fish.
1836. Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, I. 383. The Pike. Pickerell. Jack. Luce.
1892. Pall Mall G., 21 July, 31/1. Two mighty eels, three fatted tench, and a couple of luce were at once secured.
b. Her. as a charge.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 370/1. A fesse indented sable charged with four leuses heads eirant rased or.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. i. 16. All his Ancestors … may giue the dozen white Luces in their Cote.
2. Luce of the sea, sea-luce: the hake, Merlucius vulgaris.
1598. Stow, Surv., 71. [In a Fishmongers’ pageant] Sixe and fortie armed Knightes riding on horses, made like luces of the sea.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 246. Luces, properly called Pikes of the Sea, are so rare in Spain that they are never seen.
1880–4. F. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., I. 301. The hake … has also been termed … sea-luce, or sea-pike.
