surffish

[surf-fish]

noun

plural

surffish ,

plural

surffishes .

1. surfperch.

2. any of several sciaenoid fishes, as Umbrina roncador, inhabiting waters along the Pacific coast of North America.

3. surf smelt.

Word History and Origins

Origin of surffish¹

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; surf + fish

Example Sentences

In the summers the Trippes take their 16-year-old daughter, Betty, and three young sons, Charles, John and Edward, to a rambling, grey-shingled house on the ocean's edge at East Hampton, L.I., where Trippe likes to swim and surffish with the boys, exercising hard to work off tension.

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