bêche-de-mer
Americannoun
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another name for trepang
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See Beach-la-Mar
Etymology
Origin of bêche-de-mer
1805–15; erroneously for French biche de mer < Portuguese bicho do mar literally, animal of the sea; Beach-la-Mar
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The slowing economy in China might have been expected to dampen prices for bêche-de-mer, but the new study, by the National Marine Science Centre, at Southern Cross University, in Australia, indicates otherwise.
From National Geographic
In 1881 fifteen Acts, exclusive of appropriations, were passed, among which were the Macalister Pension Act, authorising the payment to the ex-Agent-General of a pension of �500 a year; the Pearl-shell and Beche-de-mer Fishery Act; the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, and the United Municipalities Act.
From Project Gutenberg
European sailors still continued to pour into the islands, for after the exhaustion of the sandal-wood forests, whalers began to frequent the group, and there sprang up a desultory, but profitable trade in beche-de-mer, the sea-slug so highly prized by Chinese epicures, and in cocoanut oil.
From Project Gutenberg
Of these latter exports, rattans and gurjan oil are the chief; other natural products of the islands are trepang—bêche-de-mer—tortoiseshell and edible birds' nests, but they are only collected in small quantities.
From Project Gutenberg
Liners did not ply the tepid waters for which we were bound: waters ridden by no commerce save the peddling of copra and pearl shell and beche-de-mer.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
