gaspereaun.
/ˈɡaspərəʊ/, U.S. /ˈɡæspəˌroʊ/, Canadian English /ˈɡæspəˌroː/ Canadian.
A shad or river herring (genus Alosa); esp. the alewife, A. pseudoharengus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > order Clupeiformes > [noun] > family Clupeidae and herrings > member of genus Alosa (shad)
shad1002
savalo1622
gaspereau1703
1703 tr. L. de Lahontan New Voy. N.-Amer. I. 243 Gasperots, a small Fish like a Herring.
1838 United Service Jrnl. Aug. 448 Great quantities of gaspereaux—a sort of large herring, and other fish, are caught here at different seasons of the year.
1869 R. B. Roosevelt Game Fish Northern States & Brit. Provinces vi. 138 In May and June the Gaspereau or alewives, a species of herring, Alosa Tyrannus, make their appearance in myriads.
1912 Sea Fisheries E. Canada (Commission of Conservation) 105 The gaspereaux..is mostly used as a bait fish.
1979 Sunday Star (Toronto) 20 May a16/2 The alewife is also commonly known as the sawbelly, grayback, gaspereau and branch herring.
2003 Nat. New Eng. Summer 43/2 The watershed might have supported 14 to 38 million spawning alewife together with its anadromous look-alike, the blue-back herring, Alosa aestivalis. Collectively, these two species are called river herring, or gaspereau.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1703