bêche-de-mer
Americannoun
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another name for trepang
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See Beach-la-Mar
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
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
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.
One sea product, the bêche-de-mer, a marine animal commonly called "sea-cucumber," is highly prized by the Chinese, who use large quantities; most of it is gathered by the Fijians.
From Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania by Jewett Castello Gilson
Bêche-de-mer fisheries are a feature of the coast, the bêche-de-mer being a huge sea-slug, thought to be a great delicacy.
From Queensland Cousins by Eleanor Luisa Haverfield
They were either visiting the island to procure turtle and bêche-de-mer or had merely called there en route to some other destination, and the change in the wind had unexpectedly compelled them to put ashore.
From The Wings of the Morning by Louis Tracy
Instead, in bêche-de-mer, which was as habitual to him as his own Somo speech, he thought: “My word, that fella dog no fright along me.”
From Jerry of the Islands by Jack London
What he did say was in bêche-de-mer, and his words were: “Any fella Mary he like ’m fight, all fella Mary along Somo fight ’m this fella way.”
From Jerry of the Islands by Jack London
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
