1831 R. Jameson Wilson & Bonaparte's Amer. Ornithol. (rev. ed.) II. 324 (note) It [sc. the Great Marbled Godwit] is better known under the name of Merline.

1844 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. II. 253 Limosa fedoa..is described in the books as the Great Marbled Godwit, a name entirely unknown to the people of the country. With us it is generally called the Marlin.

1844 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. II. 254 The Ring-Tailed Marlin, Limosa Hudsonica,..is not as common along our coast as the preceding species.

1886 Outing Aug. 523/1 Yelper, Marlin, and Yellow Legs, are all occasionally found.

1888 G. Trumbull Names & Portraits Birds 206 The name Marlin comes from a resemblance in the bird's bill to the old-fashioned marline-spike, which was more or less curved in shape.

1895 D. G. Elliott N. Amer. Shore Birds 110 The Hudsonian Godwit..is known by many names to the gunners,..but perhaps that of Ring-tail Marlin, to distinguish it from its relative, is the most familiar.

1923 W. L. McAtee Local Names Migratory Game Birds 58 Marbled Godwit...Vernacular Names..marlin.

1956 Bull. Mass. Audubon Soc. 40 20 Hudsonian godwit... Black-tail marlin... The tail, chiefly black, is white at tip and base.

1886 Forest & Stream 27 25 I apprehend he saw flocks of Hudsonian curlew (Numenius hudsonicus) which is sometimes called crooked-bill marlin.

1923 U.S. Dept. Agric. Misc. Circular No. 13. 66 Hudsonian Curlew... Vernacular names..in local use... Crooked-billed marlin (N.J.)..marlin (N.J.).

1946 L. A. Hausman Field Bk. Eastern Birds 268 Hudsonian Curlew... Other names... Crook-billed marlin.

1917 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) July 62/1 The marlin—Tetrapterus mitsukurii—is sometimes called the Japanese swordfish.

1923 D. K. Tressler Marine Products of Commerce 737/1 The marlin (Tetrapterus mitsukurii)..is also called spikefish.

1926 Glasgow Herald 24 June 4/5 The extract concerning the loss of a black marlin swordfish, estimated to weigh 600 lb., is one of the most dramatic passages.

1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Apr. 301/1 Since then marlin have been taken, on heavy tackle, of 372 lb.

1940 Nature 6 Apr. 555/2 The black marlin differs from the striped and the blue marlin in the fact that the pectoral fin, when adducted, remains in the horizontal position, whilst in the others it can be brought up flat against the side of the body.

1959 Angling Times 13 Mar. 6/3 Madeira has them: the white marlin and the blue marlin.

1970 M. Slater Caribbean Cooking 11 Marlin, one of the most sought-after game fish, found in rocks and reefs.

1991 Fly Rod & Reel July 13/1 Those of us who hunt billfish know we can catch sails and marlin perhaps as big as 400 pounds.