Digby chicken

American

noun

Canadian (chiefly the Maritime Provinces).

a smoked herring.

Digby chicken British

/ ˈdɪɡbɪ /

noun

informal dried herring

"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

Etymology

Origin of Digby chicken

First recorded in 1915–20; after Digby, a port in Nova Scotia

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.

It's strange that no one has given us a Digby chicken since we came here.

From Project Gutenberg

Any one would suppose that the Digby chicken is the only fish that grows here; yet really and truly we haven't seen one, have we, since our arrival?

From Project Gutenberg

I’ve growed to be a regular ‘Digby chicken,’ I’ve tarried here so long already.

From Project Gutenberg

He had put on his oilskins and set his oars in readiness for the first sign of distress on the face of the waters; but he had about given up hope of his pretty “Digby Chicken.”

From Project Gutenberg

It scarcely needed the glass he raised to show him the “Digby Chicken” riding quietly on the water not more than half a league off shore.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023