Also bumbeloe, bumbalo, bumaloe. [Yule quotes bombīl or bombīla from Molesworth’s Mahratti Dict.] A small fish (Harpodon nehereus) found off the coasts of Southern Asia, used, when dried, as a relish.
1673. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 67 (Y.). Massigoung … notable for a fish called Bumbelow, the Sustenance of the Poorer sort.
1787. Archaeologia, VIII. 262 (D.). Dried fish, which in this country [India] are called bumbeloes.
1813. J. Forbes, Oriental Mem., I. 53. The Bumbalo, a small fish extremely nutritive.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 283. Skate, sword-fish, bumaloe, cockup, crabs, lobsters.
1885. Balfour, Cycl. India (ed. 3), 512. Bummalo, a small fish, salted and dried; also called Bombay Duck.
