Also 6 albo-, 6– albi-, 8 albe-, 9 alber-. [a. Pg. albacor, -bacora, -becora (Sp. albacora, Fr. albicore); f. Arab al the + bukr, pl. bakārat, a young camel, a heifer, whence also Pg. bacoro a young pig. The Fr. form albicore is also in use.] A fish; prop. a large species of Tunny (Thynnus), found in the Atlantic, near W. Indies. Applied also to a kindred species in the Pacific; and loosely to others of the genus.
1579. T. Stevens, Lett. fr. Goa, in Hakluyt, II. 583. In the sea, the fish which is called Albocore, as big as a salmon.
1696. Ovington, Voy. Surat, 48. We likewise met with shoals of Albicores (so call’d from a piece of white Flesh that sticks to their Heart).
1766. Grose, Voy. East Ind., I. 5. The Albacore is another fish of much the same kind as the Bonito.
1782. P. Bruce, Mem., XII. 424. Baracuda, ship-jacks, albecores.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., viii. (1873), 162. The flying-fish and their devourers the bonitos and albicores.
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea, iii. § 158. A few years ago, great numbers of Albercore … entered the English Channel.
1868. Daily News, 14 Sept., 3/6. Capture of an Albacore at Dawlish.
