Forms: 7 bonuto, 7–9 -eto, 8 bineto, boneeto, -ite, -ata, 8–9 -eta, -ita, -etta, 6– bonito. [a. Sp. bonito, of doubtful origin: bonito adj. ‘pretty good, pretty’ is a native Sp. word; but the Sp. Academy derive the name of the fish from an Arabic bainīth, which looks like an adaptation of the Spanish.]
The striped tunny; a fish growing to the length of three feet, common in tropical seas, living chiefly on the flying-fish. The name is also given to one or two other similar fish.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. II. 105. Bonitos and flying fishes.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 67. The bonito, or Spanish makerell, is altogether like unto a makerell, but that it is somewhat more growne.
1713. Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 234. We took … a Fish which some thought was a Boneta.
1773. Cook, 1st Voy., I. 98. The heaviest and most vigorous fish, such as bonettas and albicores.
1829. Southey, O. Newman, I. Wks. X. 275. Gay bonitos in their beauty glide.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1863), 217. The bonetas and dolphins … chased the flying fish.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., viii.
