A male seal. The word is not in Ogilvie, and the ‘Century Dict.’ gives no example.
1830. On it [the island] reposed, in great state, an old wig (the male seal.) Some of our men boarded the island, and pelted his wigship with pieces of ice, till he was compelled to abdicate…. These old wigs are more than twice as large as the female seal and might be mistaken for another species of animals…. I had never seen an old wig on shore, consequently knew but little about them, but having killed a good many seals and one sea-elephant, I thought myself a match for a wig.—N. Ames, ‘A Mariner’s Sketches,’ pp. 136, 145, 146. [Other examples also.]
