[OE. smelt, = obs. G. schmelt, schmelz (Gesner), Da. smelt (from c. 1600): cf. Du. smelt, Flem. smelte, G. schmelte sand-eel, also Norw. smelta a small species of cod or whiting. Relationship to OE. smolt, smylte is very doubtful.]
1. A small fish, Osmerus eperlanus, allied to the salmon, and emitting a peculiar odor; the sparling or spirling.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., S 72. Sardas, smeltas.
1328–9. Exch. K. R. Memoranda m. 125. Quoad capcionem piscis qui vocatur smelt.
c. 1358. in Eng. Hist. Rev., XXIV. 742. Item in smelt ijd.
1421. Contin. Brut, 447. Gurnard rosted…. Smelt ffryed.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 460/2. Smelte, fysche.
1530. Palsgr., 271/2. Smelte, a fysshe, esp[er]lang.
1558. Act 1 Eliz., c. 17 § 4. Places where Smelts, Loches,… Gudgions or Eels, have been used to be taken.
1602. R. Carew, Surv. Cornw., 30. Of round fish there are Brit, Sprat,… Smelts, &c.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 282. Smelts are so called because they smell so sweet.
1767. Phil. Trans., LVII. 285. The smelt are a very small sort of fish,… used for garnish to those that are larger.
1769. Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. 264. The smelt inhabits the seas of the northern parts of Europe.
1825. S. & Sarah Adams, Compl. Servant, 86. Smelts, when fresh, have a fine bright appearance, firm flesh, and a fragrant smell, like a cucumber.
1896. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., V. 503. The beautiful and delicately flavoured little fish known as smelts are represented by three species.
fig. 1791. Boswell, Johnson (Oxf. ed.), II. 567. Sir, you were a Cod surrounded by smelts. Is not this enough for you?
b. A fish of a related species, esp. Osmerus mordax of the American coast.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, III. 189. A daughter of the one-eyed potentate Comcomly, who held sway over the fishing tribe of the Chinooks, and had long supplied the factory with smelts and sturgeons.
1839. Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, Suppl. II. 16. The Hebridal Smelt.
1868. U. S. Rep. Commiss. Agric. (1869), 330. Spawn … of the white fish,… the Belgrade smelt, and the wall-eyed pike.
1883. Sir A. Shaw, Newfoundland Fisheries, 7. The American ‘smelt’ swarms on all parts of the coast.
6. Applied to various other small fishes, in the south of England freq. to the atherine or sand-smelt.
1776. Pennant, Brit. Zool. (ed. 4), III. 287. Atherine…. This species is very common in the sea near Southampton, where it is called a Smelt.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XXI. 224/1. Retropinna contains but one species, R. richardsonii, which is known as the New Zealand Smelt.
1898. Morris, Austral Eng., 421/1. Smelt,… name given, in Melbourne, to the fish Clupea vittata. Ibid., The Derwent Smelt is a Tasmanian fish, Haplochiton sealii.
† 2. a. transf. A simpleton. Obs.
In quot. 1607 there is allusion to 2 b.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., II. iii. What’s he, Mercurie? Mer. A notable smelt.
1607. Dekker & Webster, Westw. Hoe, IV. ii. To see how plaine-dealing women can pull downe men: Moll, you’le helpe vs to catch Smelts too?
a. 1625. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgr., V. ii. Talk what you will, this is a very smelt.
† b. Used allusively in the phrase Westward for smelts (see quots.). Obs.
1607. Dekker & Webster, Westw. Hoe, II. ii. But wenches, with what pullies shall wee slide … out of our husbandes suspition, being gone Westward for smelts all night.
1608. Great Frost, in Arber, Eng. Garner (1895), I. 85. Say, have none gone ‘westward for smelts,’ as our proverbial phrase is?
1619. (title) Westward for Smelts. Or, The Water-mans Fare of mad-merry Western wenches.
3. north. dial. A smolt. See SMOLT sb.1 1.
a. 1633. Coke, On Litt., II. xlvii. (1642), 478. Yong Salmons, or Salmon peals, or Salmon Smelts.
a. 1672. Willughby, Hist. Pisc., IV. iv. 189. Nostratibus in fluvio Ribble agri Eboracensis Salmones primo ætatis anno Smelts dicuntur; secundo Sprods.
1677, 1769. [see SMOLT sb.1 1 β].
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., Smelts, the fry of the salmon; generally called salmon-smelts.
1842. Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. 4. He took Smelts of the salmon with their silvery sides.
4. attrib., as smelt-boat, family, fishery, -fishing, -leap, net.
1384–5. Cal. Lett. Bk. ‘H’ Lond. (1907), 255. [Eight nets called] smelt net [of unlawful mesh].
1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, IV. iii. (1630), 55. She would not stay for Oares, but tooke a Smelt-boat.
1630. in Binnell, Descr. Thames (1758), 78. That no Peter-man do fish with any Hagan or Smelt Net below London Bridge. Ibid., 79. No Fisherman … shall lay down in the River … any Smelt-Leaps before St. Paul’s Day yearly.
1795. R. Cole, Yng. Angler’s Comp., Title-p., The Best Method of Smelt-Fishing.
1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 543. The Smelt Family, Microstomidæ. Ibid. (1888), Amer. Fishes, 492. The smelt fishery is increasing yearly in importance.
