[Fr.; lit. ‘sea-spade.’] A marine animal, an echinoderm (Holothuria edulis), called also Trepang, Sea-cucumber, Sea-slug, eaten as a luxury by the Chinese. Hence a vb. To bêche-de-mer.
1814. Flinders, Voy. Terra Austr., in Penny Cycl., XII. 270/2. The beche-de-mer, or sea-cucumber, which we had first seen on the reefs of the east coast.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 1023. Those who go bêche-de-mer-ing, as the employment is commonly termed.
