Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small edible marine fish (Mallotus villosus) of northern Atlantic and Pacific waters, related to and resembling the smelt.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as caplin.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Either of two small marine fishes formerly classified in the family
Salmonidæ , now within the smelt familyOsmeridae : Mallotus villosus, very abundant on the coasts of Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Alaska; or Mallotus catervarius, found in the North Pacific. The Atlantic variety has been used as a bait for the cod.
WordNet 3.0
- n. very small northern fish; forage for sea birds and marine mammals and other fishes
Etymologies
- From Middle French capelan < Old Provençal capelan < Late Latin cappellanus ("chaplain"). (Wiktionary)
- Canadian French capelan, from French, codfish, from Old Provençal, from Medieval Latin cappelānus; see chaplain. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Polar cod is an extremely important prey item for most arctic seabirds, but other small school-forming species (such as capelin and herring in the Barents Sea) are extremely important regionally.”
“Mature fish feed on krill and small fish such as capelin and herring and undertake extensive feeding migrations.”
“One fish that comes close is a smelt known as the capelin (”
“Adult harp seals feed mainly on small marine fish such as capelin, herring, sculpins (”
“Just as he had done to the last few trays of capelin roe, the reporter graciously turned it down.”
“The capelin roe was fishy with a pungent aftertaste.”
“As Mr. Hall described the benefits of Icelandic butter, a tray of capelin roe with barley crisps, seaweed and chives made the rounds.”
“Each year, from June through August, 11,000 whales come here to feed on capelin, a forage fish from the smelt family and favorite of the leviathans.”
The Huffington Post: Margie Goldsmith: A Close Encounter with New Foundland's Humpbacks
“The problem is that much of the food for all these farmed fish is made from ground-up and processed forage species like herring, sardines, and capelin.”
“I added some masago (capelin caviar) to the cream cheese.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘capelin’.
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fish list
lots and lots of fish, a piscatorial
wetdreamablet, agnathan, ahi, ahuru, ahuruhuru, albacore, albicore, alec, alewife, allice, allis, amberjack and 840 more...
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PECH - marine species
African cuttlefish, Alaska plaice, Alaska pollock, Alaska pollack, walleye pollock, alewife, gaspereau, river herring, sawbelly, allis shad, American angler, goosefish and 994 more...
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Canadianisms
Canuck, timbit, Timbit, inukshuk, Canadianism, spiked, hyderize, canuckistan, Canuckistan, hoser, double double, Triumf and 366 more...
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Like True Newfoundlanders
A place for me to store my Newfoundland English, as I learn it. (Might take a while.)
screech-in, screech, moose milk, bucklish, buckly, buckaloon, buccaloon, newfoundland sock, rum runner, scravel, newfoundland, oonchook and 112 more...
Tweets
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