Spitheadn.
Nautical slang.
1. Spithead nightingale n. (see quots.).
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society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > sailors involved in specific duties or activities > [noun] > boatswain
boatswainOE
boatsman1513
bosun1592
tindal1698
contre-master1726
serang1799
Pipes1818
Spithead nightingale1890
bose1912
1890 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 283/1 Spithead nightingales (naval), boatswains, and boatswains' mates, on account of their calls.
1963 [see Spithead pheasant n. at sense 2]. 2. Spithead pheasant n. (a) a bloater; (b) a kipper.
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the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > fish > cured fish > salted or pickled fish
pickle-herring1463
round shore-herring1469
split herring1469
white herring1469
white-salted herring1469
ling fish1489
pickled herring?1577
mudfish1600
old ling1600
sea-stick1604
cor1624
crux-herrings1641
red fish1728
dunfish1746
sea steak1798
caveach1822
fair maid1823
dun codfish1839
crape-fish1856
black herring1883
rollmop1892
schmaltz herring1912
stink-fish1913
stinking fish1935
Spithead pheasant1948
1948 E. Partridge et al. Dict. Forces' Slang 177 Spithead pheasant, a, a bloater. (Navy.)
1954 News Chron. 4 Nov. 1/4 He had to produce: 1. a cat; 2. a Spithead Pheasant (a kipper); 3. a Sick Bay Shackle (a safety-pin).
1963 Times 26 Feb. 12/6 Spithead pheasant—slang for a kipper—still appears on the Navy's menu, but Spithead nightingales—bo'sun's mates and call boys are ‘off’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1890