subs. (American).—1. A sailor: spec. an old whaling hand. [The living space on board a whaler is limited.] Whence (2) one of the crowd: see HERRING. PACKED LIKE SARDINES = huddled.
c. 184[?]. Cor. New Haven Palladium [BARTLETT]. We ‘Old Whalers,’ or, as we are sometimes termed ‘SARDINES.’
3. (stock exchange).—In pl. = Royal Sardinian Ry. Shares.
