bêche-de-mer

[ besh-duh-mair, beysh- ]

noun,plural bêch·es-de-mer, (especially collectively) bêche-de-mer for 1.

a trepang.
Often Bêche-de-Mer. Neo-Melanesian.

Origin of bêche-de-mer

1805–15; erroneously for French biche de mer<Portuguese bicho do mar literally, animal of the sea; cf. Beach-la-Mar

Words Nearby bêche-de-mer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bêche-de-mer in a sentence

On the reefs of the Southern Ocean is found a kind of sea-slug termed the Beche-de-mer.
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art | Various
The beche de mer industry has also been a great help to business people in Cooktown.
Early Days in North Queensland | Edward Palmer
He was just back from a long cruise to the westward, fishing beche-de-mer and sandalwood trading.
A Son Of The Sun | Jack London
There were traders old and young, beche-de-mer fishermen, old beach-combers and blackbirders.
Through the South Seas with Jack London | Martin Johnson
We must fill the three schooners with copra and beche-de-mer.
South Sea Tales | Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for bêche-de-mer

bêche-de-mer

/ (ˌbɛʃdəˈmɛə) /

nounplural bêches-de-mer (ˌbɛʃdəˈmɛə) or bêche-de-mer

another name for trepang
See Beach-la-Mar

Origin of bêche-de-mer

C19: quasi-French, from earlier English biche de mer, from Portuguese bicho do mar worm of the sea

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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