Definitions

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

  • noun The young of various fishes, especially the herring, considered a delicacy when fried.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name used in New Zealand for the young fry of Galaxias attenuatus, a fish of the family Galaxidæ; also the young of the New Zealand smelt, Retropinna Richardsonii.
  • noun A small clupeoid fish, prized as a delicacy in England.
  • noun A Chinese salmonoid fish, Salanx sinensis. See Salanx.

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

  • noun The young of several species of herrings, especially of the common herring, esteemed a great delicacy by epicures in England.
  • noun A small translucent fish (Salanx Chinensis) abundant at certain seasons on the coasts of China and Japan, and used in the same manner as the European whitebait.

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

  • noun The young of various species of fish, especially herrings, sprats or smelts, served deep fried as a starter or snack

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

  • noun minnows or other small fresh- or saltwater fish (especially herring); usually cooked whole
  • noun the edible young of especially herrings and sprats and smelts

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

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

Examples

Comments

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