Also 6–7 lumpe, 7 lompe. [Found also as MLG. lumpen (Diefenbach), MDu. lompe, G. lump, lumpfisch, F. lompe; hence mod.L. (specific name) lumpus, It. Sp. lumpo. By foreign etymologists it has commonly been supposed to be of Eng. origin, a use of LUMP sb.1, with reference to the bulky figure of the fish; but the Du. and LG. forms are known from earlier examples than the Eng. Cf. Du. lomp heavy.]
1. A spiny-finned fish of a leaden-blue color and uncouth appearance, Cyclopterus lumpus, characterized by a suctorial disk on its belly with which it adheres to objects with great force (whence its name of lump-sucker); the sea-owl.
The arctic species is C. spinosus.
1545. Elyot, Dict., Faber, a fyshe of the Spanyshe sea … is lyke to be that fyshe, whyche is called a lump.
1591. Lyly, Endimion, III. iii. For fish these; crab, lumpe, and powting.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 428. The Lompe, Paddle or sea-Owle, a fish called in Latin orbis.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 247. Lumps are of two sorts, the one as round almost as a Bowl, the other resembling the Fillets of a Calf.
a. 1672. [see COCK-PADDLE].
1828. Fleming, Hist. Brit. Anim., 190.
2. Comb.: lump-fish, lump sucker, = 1.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iv. 76. Lompe-fish. The Lumpe or Lompe, is a fish so named from his shape and likenesse, and is in taste agreeable to the name.
1743. Parsons, in Phil. Trans., XLII. 385. The Phoca... is rather like a Lump-fish, and almost triangular.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., II. xvii. 121. Under the name of lump-fishes I include all those whose ventral fins unite to form a disk or sucker by which they are enabled to adhere to the rocks.
1885. C. F. Holder, Marvels Anim. Life, 21. The lump-fish is … accredited with being a nest builder.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1770), III. 117. *Lump sucker.
1836. Yarrell, Brit. Fishes (1859), II. 343. The Lump Sucker is remarkable for its very grotesque form.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4), 105. A Lump Sucker, caught at S. Leonards.
