whitebait

American  

[hwahyt-beyt, wahyt-] / ˈʰwaɪtˌbeɪt, ˈwaɪt- /

noun

plural

whitebait

1. a young sprat or herring.

2. Cooking. any small, delicate fish cooked whole without being cleaned, especially the sprat.

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whitebait British  

/ ˈwaɪtˌbeɪt /

noun

1. the young of herrings, sprats, etc, cooked and eaten whole as a delicacy

2. any of various small silvery fishes, such as Galaxias attenuatus of Australia and New Zealand and Allosmerus elongatus of North American coastal regions of the Pacific

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Etymology

Origin of whitebait

First recorded in 1750–60; white + bait, so called from use as bait

Example Sentences

Half a stone overweight, Donald had been fishing whitebait on the Waikato river external-link when Henry rang him and asked him to join the squad before the semi-finals.

From BBC • Oct. 11, 2023

One day in Lamorna Cove we could see the tiny whitebait in the shallows as kids skipped among them, some being thrown up by the waves.

From New York Times • Feb. 26, 2018

They ate whitebait patties and steaks at the Whataroa hotel, slept in simple cabins and rented houses and mixed and mingled with the local farming community.

From The Guardian • Dec. 12, 2016

A few minutes later, it is brought in: kilograms of silver cyprinid - the size of whitebait - glisten in the morning sun.

From BBC • Feb. 17, 2014

One was administering brandy, another was plucking whitebait out of his whiskers, a third was trying to wipe the tomato soup from his shirt-front, an operation which transformed a red archipelago into a flaming continent.

From Adventures of Bindle by Jenkins, Herbert George