Also smigg. [Of obscure origin.] (See quot. a. 1880.) Also attrib., as smig bait, herring.
a. 1880. Buckland, Nat. Hist. Brit. Fishes, 281. If a basket of whitebait be examined in April there will be found a large number of minute fish 1 in. to 11/2 in. long, perfectly transparent, with a large eye and no scales visible, the body being covered with a few black spots. These are called ‘smig herring.’ Ibid., 282. The spratty stuff and the ‘smig’ bait comes up the river first.
1899. Standard, 17 July, 3/7. The mackerel were so intent upon chasing shoals of smigg, that numbers of them were stranded on the beach and caught by hundred of lads.
