Turbot

Forms: 3–8 turbut, 4–5 -bote, 4–7 -butt, 5 -bott, 6 -butte, 6–7 -bat, 7 Sc. -batt, 6–8 -bet, 7, 9 -bit, 4– turbot. [a. OF. tourbout (12th c. in Hatz-Darm.), torbout, AF. turbut, MDu. turbot, terbot, tarbot; of uncertain origin; perh. a deriv. of L. turbo spinning top (also in med.L. ‘turbot’), referring to its shape; but the termination of the F. word is unexplained.)

  1.  A large flat fish (Rhombus maximus or Psetta maxima), having a wide scaleless body covered with conical bony tubercles, with the eyes normally on the left side, found on the European coasts and much esteemed as food.

c. 1300.  Havelok, 754. He tok þe sturgiun, and þe qual, And þe turbut, and lax with-al.

1307–8.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 4. In j turbote, iiij s. ij d. Ibid. (1377), 46. In j Turbutt et j leyng emp. in villa, x s. vj d.

14[?].  Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 704/36. (Nomina piscium) Hic turbo, -[i]nis, a turbott.

c. 1450.  Two Cookery-bks., 112. Nym luys, turbot, and elys & gobete hem in mosselys.

1502–3.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 248. Payd for di. a turbutt xx d.

1570.  Levins, Manip., 93/24. A Turbet, fish, rhombus, i. Ibid., 195/28. Turbutte, fish, chalchis, rhombus, i.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 41. Turbat, ffluik, and plase fluik.

1655.  Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 266. Turbots … were in old time counted so good and delicate, that this Proverb grew upon them, Nihil ad Rhombum; that is to say, What is all this in comparison of a Turbot.

1728.  Young, Love Fame, III. 74. The salmon is refus’d, the turbot bought.

1771.  Smollett, Humph. Cl., 5 June. My uncle … asked him to dinner, and treated him with a fine turbot.

1836.  Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, II. 238. Reversed Turbots … that is, Turbots having the eyes and dark colour on the right side instead of the left, are also occasionally brought to market.

1870.  Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 324. The English markets … are supplied chiefly with Dutch turbot.

  2.  Applied to other fish more or less resembling the turbot.

  a.  In north of Eng. and parts of Scotland, the halibut. b. In U.S., any of various large flat fishes, as the diamond flounder of California (Hypopsetta guttulata), or the spotted flounder of the Pacific coast (Bothus maculatus). c. In New Zealand, Ammotretis guntheri, also called lemon-sole (Morris). d. Locally, any of various species of Balistes, the file-fishes and trigger-fishes (Cent. Dict., 1891).

1555.  Eden, Decades, 200. Certeyne other fysshes: as soles, mackerelles, turbuttes [in W. Indies].

1598.  Hakluyt, Voy., I. 104. They gaue vnto vs a great fresh turbut.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, IX. xx. I. 247. In a Turbot the right side turneth upward, and in a Plaice the left.

1674.  Ray, Collect. Words, Fishes, s.v., What in the [South] they call the Halibut in the North they call the Turbot;… in some parts of the West of England they call the Turbot Bret and the Halibut Turbot.

1794.  Statist. Acc. Scot., XII. 171, note. The fish … are cod, ling, skate, mackerel, hollybut, here called turbot.

1810.  P. Neill, List Fishes, 11 (Jam.). Holibut…. In our [Edinburgh] market … named the turbot; the proper turbot … getting another name, that of rawnfleuk.

1883.  Chambers’ Encycl., IX. 581/2. The American or Spotted Turbot (Rhombus maculatus) … is common on the coasts of New England and New York.

1885.  Lady Brassey, The Trades, 302. There were fish here [Jamaica] called turbot—not the least like our turbot, but of bright ultramarine and azure blue.

  3.  attrib. and Comb., as turbot-boat, -fish, -fisher, -fishery, -kettle, -line, † -sprout (SPROUT sb.²); turbot-like adj.

1845.  Gosse, Ocean, ii. (1849), 82. *Turbot-boat off Scarborough.

1611.  Cotgr., Turbot, the *Turbot fish.

1845.  Gosse, Ocean, ii. (1849), 82. Even the practised eye of the *turbot-fisher … fails to detect a fish when thus concealed.

1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 238. The *turbot-fishery off the British coasts.

1846.  Soyer, Cookery, 85. Put the whole of the turtle … into a large *turbot kettle.

1611.  Cotgr., Barbut,… a kind of lesse Turbot, or *Turbot-like fish, called by some, a Dab, or Sandling.

1763.  Chron., in Ann. Reg., 162/1. A complete sett of *turbot-lines.

1324–5.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 14. In … xij *torbotes sproutes, xvj Lopsters. Ibid. (1430), 61. In … j Turbotspreute [printed -sprente].