Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

tautog

American  
[taw-tog, -tawg, tou-tog] / tɔˈtɒg, -ˈtɔg, ˈtaʊ tɒg /

noun

  1. a dark-colored wrasse, Tautoga onitis, a popular game and food fish inhabiting waters along the North Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to South Carolina.


tautog British  
/ tɔːˈtɒɡ /

noun

  1. Also called: blackfish.  a large dark-coloured wrasse, Tautoga onitis, of the North American coast of the Atlantic Ocean: used as a food fish

"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 tautog

An Americanism first recorded in 1635–45; from Narragansett ( English spelling) tautaũog, plural of taut

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.

He predicted that removing the old traps will help the populations of various fish species including tautog, rock crabs, whelk, cunner and sea bass, as well as the remaining lobsters.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 22, 2022

Whatever this tautog had been up to, it was bound now for ice.

From New York Times • May 28, 2012

That would be a mistake, because tautog flesh is firm, sweet and white, and can be cooked any number of ways, all of them good.

From New York Times • May 28, 2012

Erik Moore unhooks a tautog that hit a whole hermit crab in 70 feet of water.

From Time Magazine Archive

When they all met at dinner on the Miraflame, she merely laughed and joked about her accident, and passed around dainty bits of the baked tautog that Phineas had prepared especially for her.

From Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point Nita, the Girl Castaway by Emerson, Alice B.