Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Either of two butterfishes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Pampus argenteus or P. chinensis.
  • noun Any of various edible marine fishes of the family Bramidae, having a blunt head and a compressed, usually black body.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the East Indies, a fish of the genus Stromateoides, distinguished from the other stromateoids by the restricted lateral branchial apertures.
  • noun Loosely, any fish of the family Stromateidæ.
  • noun A bramoid fish, Brama rayi, Ray's seabream or hen-fish.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of two or more species of marine food fishes of the genus Stromateus (Stromateus niger, Stromateus argenteus) native of Southern Europe and Asia.
  • noun A marine food fish of Bermuda (Brama Raji).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fish of family Bramidae, consisting of eight genera and some twenty species.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun deep-bodied sooty-black pelagic spiny-finned fish of the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific; valued for food

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Earlier pamflet, pomflet, probably from Portuguese pampo, pombo, pamplo, pompano, any of various other fishes, especially Stromateus fiatola (probably from alteration of pâmpano, perhaps ultimately from Latin pompilus, pilot fish, any of various other fishes, from Greek pompilos, pilot fish, from pompos, escort or pompē, act of escorting, procession, both from pempein, to escort) + –et or –let.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps derived from Portuguese pampano, a kind of fish.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pomfret.

Examples

  • Product does not contain pomfret, squid, shrimp or crab.

    Fish Sauce and Fine Print 2008

  • So after coming from work, I used to flip through the yellow pages, call the fishmongers and pester them with questions about "pomfret", "mackrel", "king fish"...

    Sungatha Fanna upkari - Fiery Prawns Curry Meera 2009

  • So after coming from work, I used to flip through the yellow pages, call the fishmongers and pester them with questions about "pomfret", "mackrel", "king fish"...

    Archive 2009-08-01 Meera 2009

  • "Profit-making fish such as pomfret have gone 12 to 14 nautical miles away, so men go far into the sea.

    The Hindu - Front Page 2009

  • Ratnagiri boasts an annual catch of 1,25,000 tonnes of a variety of fish, including pomfret, surmai (kingfish), bangda (Indian mackerel) and rawas (Indian salmon), but with the project, those numbers could dwindle significantly.

    India's Field Of Nuclear Fissures 2011

  • Ratnagiri boasts an annual catch of 1,25,000 tonnes of a variety of fish, including pomfret, surmai (kingfish), bangda (Indian mackerel) and rawas (Indian salmon), but with the project, those numbers could dwindle significantly.

    Field of Fissures 2011

  • Ratnagiri boasts an annual catch of 1,25,000 tonnes of a variety of fish, including pomfret, surmai (kingfish), bangda (Indian mackerel) and rawas (Indian salmon), but with the project, those numbers could dwindle significantly.

    Field of Fissures 2011

  • Ratnagiri boasts an annual catch of 1,25,000 tonnes of a variety of fish, including pomfret, surmai (kingfish), bangda (Indian mackerel) and rawas (Indian salmon), but with the project, those numbers could dwindle significantly.

    Field of Fissures 2011

  • Instead of using imported frozen pomfret for a fish curry, for instance, he might use fresh striped bass or halibut.

    One Big Table Molly O’Neill 2010

  • The label depicts a pomfret, a squid, some shrimp and a crab – the fine print under the picture says this:

    Fish Sauce and Fine Print 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Sounds like fish and chips.

    July 6, 2009

  • Sounds like potato angst.

    July 6, 2009