shirmern.
/ˈʃəːmə/ local.
(See quots.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > order Clupeiformes > [noun] > family Clupeidae and herrings > clupea pilchardus (pilchard) > collective
shirmer1823
1823 T. Bond Topogr. & Hist. Sketches E. & W. Looe 77 The pilchards are seen..playing on the surface of the water, and thereby rendering the spot of a darker colour... Such fish, so appearing, are called Shirmers.
1847 Zoologist 5 1645 As the summer advances, the stragglers [sc. pilchards] associate into small companies; these again unite into larger ones called ‘shirmers’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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n.1823