scad
1- any carangid fish of the genus Decapterus, inhabiting tropical and subtropical shore waters.
- any of several related carangid fishes, as of the genera Trachurus or Selar.
Origin of scad
1Related Words for scads
oodles, lots, jillion, plenty, heaps, piles, bags, tons, gobs, bunches, loadsExamples from the Web for scads
Historical Examples of scads
She'll ne'er backward linger, this land of our dads, for she is a dinger at nailing the scads.
Rippling RhymesWalt Mason
You'll find a buckskin purse, with some scads in it, in the bag.
Trent's Trust and Other StoriesBret Harte
One day they were out and caught six mackerel and six scads.
Cornish Saints and SinnersJ. Henry Harris
Now, scads are of small value, and yet Dick got them all, and Hugh all the mackerel.
Cornish Saints and SinnersJ. Henry Harris
Oh, heaps of them—scores—dead oodles and scads of 'em, as we girls say.
Recollections of a Varied LifeGeorge Cary Eggleston
scads
- informal a large amount or number
Word Origin for scads
scad
- any of various carangid fishes of the genus Trachurus, esp the horse mackerel
Word Origin for scad
Word Origin and History for scads
"large amounts," 1869, American English, earlier "dollar" (1855, usually in plural), of uncertain origin. Unknown connection to scad, the fish, which were "often very abundant and occasionally seen in enormous shoals":
In July, 1834, as Mr. Yarrell informs us, most extraordinary shoals passed up the channel along the coast of Glamorganshire; their passage occupied a week, and they were evidently in pursuit of the fry of the herring. The water appeared one dark mass of fish, and they were caught by cart-loads, and might even be baled out of the water by the hands alone. ["British Fish and Fisheries," 1849]
scad
c.1600, Cornish name for a type of fish (also known as horse mackerel) abundant on the British coast; of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of shad. OED compares Welsh ysgaden "herrings," Norwegian dialectal skad, Swedish skädde "flounder."