Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A flatfish, Psetta maxima syn. Scophthalmus maximus, of marine and brackish waters of Europe and North Africa, having a brown knobby upper side and prized as food.
  • noun Any of various flatfishes or other fishes that are similar to this fish.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A New Zealand fish, Ammotretis guntheri. Also called lemon-sole or yellowbelly.
  • noun One of the larger flatfishes, Psetta maxima (formerly Rhombus maximus), belonging to the family Pleuronectidæ.
  • noun In the United States, one of several large flounders more or less resembling the above, as Bothus maculatus, the sand-flounder or window-pane of the Atlantic coast, more fully called spotted turbot, and Hypopsetta guttulata, the diamond flounder of California.
  • noun The file-fish.
  • noun The trigger-fish.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A large European flounder (Rhombus maximus) highly esteemed as a food fish. It often weighs from thirty to forty pounds. Its color on the upper side is brownish with small roundish tubercles scattered over the surface. The lower, or blind, side is white. Called also bannock fluke.
  • noun Any one of numerous species of flounders more or less related to the true turbots, as the American plaice, or summer flounder (see flounder), the halibut, and the diamond flounder (Hypsopsetta guttulata) of California.
  • noun The filefish; -- so called in Bermuda.
  • noun The trigger fish.
  • noun See Windowpane.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of various flatfishes of family Scophthalmidae that are found in marine or brackish waters.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun flesh of a large European flatfish
  • noun a large brownish European flatfish

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English turbut, from Old French tourbout, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Swedish törnbut : törn, thorn + but, flatfish; see bhau- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old (and modern) French turbot, from Old Swedish tornbut, from törn (“thorn”) + but (“butt, flatfish”).

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Examples

  • The turbot is a goofy-looking flat fish found mainly in the North Atlantic.

    Archive 2009-05-01 e d b m 2009

  • The turbot is a goofy-looking flat fish found mainly in the North Atlantic.

    Happy Mother's Day Dinner - Mom, the Eternal Ass Kicker e d b m 2009

  • It derives its name from having teeth exactly like those of a sheep, and is a most excellent fish wherewith to console themselves for the want of the turbot, which is never seen in the American waters.

    Lands of the Slave and the Free Cuba, the United States, and Canada Henry A. Murray

  • A turbot is a kind of flatfish, native to the North Atlantic, that uses a specialized organ which makes use of the fish's own wake to force oxygenated water over its gills, resulting in basically force-induction of its metabolism, thus enhancing its speed and power. ckc (not kc) said,

    Sadly, No! 2008

  • The 47-year-old Bellevue man admitted in court Friday that he bought more than 65 tons of flatfish called turbot (TUR 'bet) from China and re-labeled it as halibut.

    KIROTV.com - Local News 2008

  • The 47-year-old Bellevue man admitted in court Friday that he bought more than 65 tons of flatfish called turbot from China and re-labeled it as halibut.

    KOMO - News - Top Stories 2008

  • Small fried whitings are frequently used for garnishing large boiled fish, such as turbot, cod, etc.

    The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861

  • Small fried whitings are frequently used for garnishing large boiled fish, such as turbot, cod, etc.

    The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861

  • E. tarda is well established to be one of the leading fish pathogens haunting the aquaculture industries throughout the world, and its association with high value fish species such as turbot has impelled the attempts for vaccine development against this organism.

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles 2009

  • Next, the main course of turbot with lemon calamari is just as simple and fresh.

    Dream meal: Food to make you sleep 2011

Comments

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  • ". . .in Milan his fourth, Odilon, Luchino Visconti's right-hand man at La Scala, had a particularly bony portion of turbot catch in his throat. . " Gilbert Adair translation of Georges Perec's La Disparition

    August 11, 2010