Obs. or dial. [Derivation unknown: it is not easy to connect it in sense with F. billard stick with a knob or hook.]
1. The Coal-fish, a fish allied to the Cod; cf. BILLET sb.3
1661. Ray, Itin. (1760), 173. There are the same sorts of Fish taken at Whitby as at Scarborough; and some others they named to us, as Dabs, Billards.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Billard, in ichthyology, an English name for the young fish of the coal-fish … up to a certain size.
1865. Couch, Brit. Fishes, III. 84.
2. (See quot.) [probably distinct from 1.]
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 322. Billard is in some places used for an imperfect or Bastard Capon.
1674. Ray, S. & E. C. Wds., 59. Billard, a Bastard Capon. Suss.
