1. A name given to various fishes; particularly to: a. The Anarrhicas or Wolf-fish. b. Several species of Pimelodus, North American fresh-water fish, esp. P. catus, the common cat-fish; † c. The Lophius or Fishing Frog.
1620. J. Mason, Newfoundland (1887), 152. What should I speake of … Crabbes, Cunners, Catfish…, &c.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. 148. The Catfish is much like a Whiting…. It hath a great wide Mouth, and certain small strings pointing out from each side of it, like Cats Whiskers.
1769. Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. 88 [Given as a synonym for the greater dogfish].
1773. Williamson, in Phil. Trans., LXV. 96. Its head was flat and its mouth wide, like that of a cat-fish.
1803. Sibbald, Hist. Fife, 121 (Jam.). Lipus marinus … our fishers call it the sea-cat, or cat-fish.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 286. Saw a cat-fish in the market, just caught out of the river by a hook and line, 4 feet long and eighty pounds weight.
1878. Daily News, 16 Sept., 3/7. A large catfish having been caught was placed in the tank, whereupon the bass immediately combined their forces and commenced an attack on the intruder.
2. The cuttle-fish or other cephalopod.
1678. Phillips, Catfish, a sort of Fish in some parts of the West Indies, so called from the Round-head, and large glaring Eyes, by which they are discovered in the Concavities of the Rocks.
1758. Baker, in Phil. Trans., L. 785. Sea Polypi are frequent in the Meditteranean…. A different species … came from the West Indies, where it is called a Cat-fish.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cat-fish, a cuttle fish, Sepia officinalis.
