Forms: α. 4– sole (5 soel). β. 7–8 soal(e, 8 soall. [a. OF. (also mod.F.) sole (= Sp. suela), of the same origin as prec., agreeing in sense with L. solea (whence Pg. solha, It. sogliola).]
1. A common British and European flat-fish (Solea vulgaris or solea), highly esteemed as food; one or other of the various fishes belonging to the widely distributed genus Solea.
α. 1347. Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 41. In playces, sperling’, et soles emp., vj s. x d.
1372. in Riley, Mem. Lond. (1868), 367. [Certain fish called] Soles.
c. 1450. Two Cookery Bks., 103. Sole, boiled, rost, or fryed. Take a sole, and do awey þe hede [etc.].
c. 1480. Cely Papers (Camden), 189. Item whelkes, iiij d. Item iij solys, vij d.
c. 1520. L. Andrew, Noble Lyfe, III. lxxxv. Solea is the sole, that is a swete fisshe and holsom for seke people.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 300. Dryed fysshe as soles, maydens, playces,… & such other.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iv. 72. The Sole verily is to be reckoned among the meats of primest note.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xxviii. (1663), 108. It is not possible to deliver the store of fish that is taken in this river, chiefly Soles and Mullets.
1769. Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. 190. The sole is found on all our coasts.
1827. Southey, Devil’s Walk, xlviii. Now soles are exceedingly cheap.
1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 324. All the Soles are excellent fishes, and may be had in good condition nearly all the year.
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 324. The sole is common on the British coasts, and in season from May to November.
β. 1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., I. 117/1. The pide-coat Mackrell, Pilchard, Sprat, and Soale.
1696. Phil. Trans., XIX. 350. Here are also good plenty of large Soals, taken in Troul-nets.
1714. Gay, Trivia, II. 294. The jointed Lobster, and unscaly Soale.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 33, ¶ 7. Dined alone in my room on a soal.
1797. Prisc. Wakefield, Mental Improv. (1800), 51. A small pectunculus or cockle, is the prey of the soal.
b. In collective singular. In quot. 1700 with punning allusion to SOUL sb.
1661. J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, 18. Soale and Playce (both which follow the tide into the fresh rivers).
1700. T. Brown, trans. Fresny’s Amusem. Ser. & Com., 21. An Old Burly Drab, that Screams out the Sale of her Maids and her Sole at the same Instant.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 336. Serve him with ven’son, and he chooses fish; With soal—that’s just the sort he would not wish.
1899. Daily News, 15 July, 5/1. Sole is dear again, even more than usually so.
2. With distinguishing terms.
See also LEMON sb.2
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 141. Common Sole. Spotted Sole.
1839. Yarrell, Suppl. Brit. Fishes, 36. The Solenette, or Little Sole.
1840. trans. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 324. S. vulgaris, the Common Sole, is dark-brown on the upper part.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVIII. 263/2. Of the subgenus Monochirus, one species is found on the British coast, and is known by the names Variegated Sole, Red-backed Flounder, &c. (M. linguatulus).
3. In American and Australasian use: One or other of various fishes belonging to related genera (esp. Achirus) or to the family Pleuronectidæ.
1882. Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fishes N. Amer., 841. Achirus. Soles.
1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 175. The much-prized Sole of Europe, Solea Vulgaris, does not occur in the Western Atlantic…. Its nearest representative, the American Sole, is found along our coast from Boston. Ibid., 182–8.
1898. Morris, Austral Eng., 426.
1903. Goode & Gill, Amer. Fishes, p. lxviii.
4. attrib. and Comb., as sole fillet, potage, -pritching, -skin; sole-like adj.
1725. Fam. Dict., s.v. Fish Potages, To prepare a Sole Potage for Fish Days. Ibid., s.v. Sole, A Dish of Sole Fillets with a Lentil-Cullis.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 118. He dwelt with delight on sole-pritching, mackerel-fishing, and cod-fishing.
1859. Sala, Gas-light & D., x. 120. Dried soleskins wherewith to clear the decoction of the Indian berry.
1881. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., V. 67. The second sub-order [of Anacanthini] consists of the Sole-like division, the Pleuronectoidei.
