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.
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
That fellow is no whaler; look at his canvas, no smoke stains from the try-works there: he is a sandal-wood trader, or is after bêche-de-mer.
From The Pirate Island A Story of the South Pacific by C.J. Staniland
They took me back safe and sound to the bêche-de-mer station at last, and there I heard all about you, even to the saving of Peter.
From Queensland Cousins by Eleanor Luisa Haverfield
They are a low-grade lot," said Bob in his quaint Colonial way, "but you know they can only get the bêche-de-mer at certain tides.
From Queensland Cousins by Eleanor Luisa Haverfield
In the distance there was the sail of an outgoing vessel—one of the bêche-de-mer boats off on a several months' trip.
From Queensland Cousins by Eleanor Luisa Haverfield
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.
