Bombay duck

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noun

a small lizardfish, Harpadon nehereus, inhabiting river mouths and estuaries of Asia.

(in India) the flesh of this fish, impregnated with asafetida, dried, salted, and used as a condiment or relish, especially with curry.

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Also called bummalo.

Origin of Bombay duck

First recorded in 1665–75

Words nearby Bombay duck

bombardon, bombast, bombastic, bombax family, Bombay, Bombay duck, Bombay hemp, Bombay Hills, bombazine, bomb bay, bomb belt

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

How to use Bombay duck in a sentence

The user fee on duck stamps goes exclusively to funding federal acquisition of wetlands as wildlife habitat.
Nazis, Sunscreen, and Sea Gull Eggs: Congress in 2014 Was Hella Productive|Ben Jacobs|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Federal Duck Stamp Act raised the fee on stamps needed to hunt waterfowl on federal land from $15 to $25.
Nazis, Sunscreen, and Sea Gull Eggs: Congress in 2014 Was Hella Productive|Ben Jacobs|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Because Duck Dynasty receives monster TV ratings and Robertson paid by a company (A&E) while making these public statements.
Butts, Brawls, and Bill Cosby: The Biggest Celebrity Scandals of 2014 |Kevin Fallon|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One of the most persistent myths in American politics is the media-fueled concept of the lame duck.
The Liberation of the Lame Duck: Obama Goes Full Bulworth|John Avlon|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST

A Fish and Wildlife special agent collected the bodies of two birds at the site, a redhead duck and a mourning dove.
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.|David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was no wonder that he felt quite at home in the duck-pond, which was made for web-footed folk.
The Tale of Grandfather Mole|Arthur Scott Bailey
In the next year his mother returned to India with both her children, and the boy's next two years were spent at and near Bombay.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
Here it broke into the Calcutta and Bombay branches, each nearly a thousand miles in length.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
They wanted Papa and Mamma, gone to Bombay beyond the seas, and their grief while it lasted was without remedy.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
Even Judy's appeals to "try and remember about Bombay" failed to quicken him.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for Bombay duck

Bombay duck

noun

a teleost fish, Harpodon nehereus, that resembles and is related to the lizard fishes: family Harpodontidae . It is eaten dried with curry dishes as a savouryAlso called: bummalo

Word Origin for Bombay duck

C19: changed from bombil (see bummalo) through association with Bombay (now Mumbai), from which it was exported

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