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.
From the ceiling of the kitchen hang pieces of bacon, and salami, and black bêche-de-mer.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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 Gilson, Jewett Castello
In the bêche-de-mer that was current among the blacks of a thousand islands and ten thousand dialects, the Arangi’s procession of passengers assured her of her fate.
From Jerry of the Islands by London, Jack
In various places we observed fragments of coral reef, and bêche-de-mer was so abundant that our schooner might have taken a full cargo of it.
From An Antarctic Mystery by Hoey, Frances Cashel
The two active young men were brothers who lived in the next village to his, and the pig had been theirs—so Kwaque narrated in atrocious bêche-de-mer English.
From Michael, Brother of Jerry by London, Jack
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.
