Definitions

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

  • noun trepang, sea cucumber

Etymologies

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

[French, alteration (influenced by bêche, grub) of biche-de-mer, from Portuguese bicho do mar : bicho, worm (from Late Latin bēstulus, diminutive of Latin bēstia, beast) + do, of the + mar, sea (from Latin mare; see mori- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French

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Examples

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  • "Annette, who followed her in, found the thing like a giant bêche-de-mer inside the bowl. It lay there, dull and malevolent, a parasite expelled, abandoned on the porcelain shores of Craig's Hotel."

    —Peter Carey, Illywhacker, 153–154

    April 16, 2009