rock codn.
/ˈrɒk kɒd/, U.S. /ˈrɑ(k) ˌkɑd/ 1. Chiefly English regional (northern), Scottish, and North American. A variety of cod, Gadus morhua, found on rocky bottoms and ledges.Cf. red cod n. 1, rock codling n. at rock n.1 Compounds 2d.
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the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > superorder Paracanthopterygii > order Gadiformes (cod) > [noun] > family Gadidae > genus Gadus > gadus morhua (common cod) > defined by habitat
rock cod1634
red coda1705
rock codfish1796
school cod1814
shoal-cod1836
shelf cod1935
1634 W. Wood New Englands Prospect i. x. 42 Besides here is a great deale of Rock-cod and Macrill.
1672 J. Josselyn New-Englands Rarities 96 It is common in New-England and esteemed the best sort of Fish next to Rock Cod.
a1705 J. Ray Synopsis Avium & Piscium (1713) ii. 165 A Red-Cod or Rock-Cod.
1758 W. Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornwall 268 The Tamlin Cod, Red or Rock-Cod, about two feet long.
1821 W. Scott Pirate I. ii. 24 In an overcharge of about one hundred per cent. on a bargain of rock-cod.
1854 H. Miller My Schools & Schoolmasters xxiv. 509 We..caught, ere our return, a basket of rock-cod or coal-fish for supper.
1900 J. G. Campbell Superstitions Highlands vi. 223 According to Sutherland tradition, the wry mouth of the flounders..arose from its making faces at the rock-cod.
1979 A. M. Tizzard On Sloping Ground 323 My father sometimes caught a rock cod, so named because it stayed very close to the shoreline.
2002 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 13 July 5 Calgary Bay, Isle of Mull... The headlands have rocky platforms where sea anglers aspire to land sea trout, mackerel and rock cod.
2. Any of various other marine fishes frequenting rocks or rocky bottoms; spec. (a) any of numerous fishes of the family Scorpaenidae, esp. of the Pacific coast of North America; (b) any of various sea basses and groupers (family Serranidae); (c) any of various codlings (family Moridae), esp. Lotella rhacina of Australia and New Zealand; (d) any of various fishes of the family Nototheniidae, found in the Southern Ocean; (e) New Zealand the blue cod, Parapercis colias. Cf. rockfish n. 1.red rock cod: see the first element.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Serranidae (sea-bass) > [noun] > member of
anthias1601
sea-perch1601
jewfish1679
hind1735
mero1763
rock cod1790
rock codfish1796
Norway or Norwegian haddock1847
serranid1879
1790 R. Clark MS Jrnl. 19 Apr. in Austral. Nat. Dict. (1988) (at cited word) 16 fishes consisting of Snappers Blue fish and one Rock Cod.
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam II. 46 The other is that fine large fish called by the English rock-cod.
1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 76/1 Of edible sea fish, the best kinds near Canton are a sort of rock-cod.
1840 F. D. Bennett Narr. Whaling Voy. II. 16 The most valuable fish in the waters around the coast is the rock-cod.
1855 Cape of Good Hope Almanac & Ann. Reg. 1856 283 Fish abound in the rivers..and in the bay. The mullet, rock cod, and Cape Salmon, are most esteemed.
1880 Rep. Royal Comm. Fisheries New S. Wales 10 The genus Serranus comprises most of the fishes known as ‘Rock Cod’... One only is sufficiently useful as an article of food to merit notice, and that is the ‘Black Rock-Cod’ (Serranus damelii, Günther).
1905 East London Daily Disp. (S. Afr.) 4 July 2 The commonest fish found [at Delagoa Bay] are rock cod,..parrot-fish, long-finned dory.
1911 D. A. Macdonald Bush Boy's Bk. 106 Some people regard rock cod as a rather poor fish, being soft and flabby.
1930 C. L. Biden Sea-angling Fishes 272 There are thirty kinds of rock-cod on the South African coast.
1958 N. Levine Canada made Me ix. 199 Rock cod, herring, smelts, sturgeon. For someone like myself who likes fish Vancouver was a good place.
1963 Rand Daily Mail (Johannesburg) 17 May 23 A 4-lb rock cod tackled and swallowed a 4-ft green mamba.
1978 N. Coleman Austral. Fisherman's Fish Guide 33 Red scorpion fish Scorpaena cardinalis. This fish has been referred to for many years as a rock cod, but this term is inaccurate.
2004 T. Wheeler Falklands & S. Georgia 64 Some species have already been severely affected including marbled rock cod (Notothenia rossi).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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