[COW sb.1]

1

  1.  The sea-cow or manatee.

2

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 212. (Mauritius) The Mannatee or Cow-fish for taste and shape can pose both feeders and beholders.

3

1853.  A. R. Wallace, Trav. Amazon, xvii. 512. Their food is entirely produced by the river, consisting of the Manatus, or cow-fish, which is as good as beef.

4

  2.  A dolphin, porpoise or grampus.

5

1860.  Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 212. Shoals of cowfish and porpoises played their uncouth gambols.

6

  3.  A fish, Ostracion quadricorne, of the Indian and American seas, having the head and body covered with plates of bone closely united, and two strong spines like horns over the eyes.

7

1885.  Lady Brassey, The Trades, 407. The beautifully coloured ‘cow-fish’ (Ostracion quadricorne), with an expression of face exactly resembling that of a very benignant cow, horns and all.

8

1885.  C. F. Holder, Marvels Anim. Life, 84. I noticed several small cow-fishes come out of a hole.

9

  4.  (See quots.)

10

1808.  Jamieson, Cowfish, a name commonly applied to Mactra lutraria, Mya arenaria, or any other large oval shell-fish, Orkney.

11

1866.  Edmondston, Gloss. Shetl. & Orkney Dial., Koo-fish, a species of shell-fish, the ‘Venous’; isl. kúskel.

12