sea donkey

Noun

sea donkey (plural sea donkeys)

1. The common name for various fish, especially the hake or the spadefish.
   • The ectoparasitic isopod, Nerocila armata Dana, so common on the head of small Sea Donkey (Chaetodipterus faber) was also sometimes attached to Sea Trout fins or head.1958, Review of the Fisheries of British Guiana, page 10
   • Some of the fish commonly caught in the trawl off British Guiana were croaker, bangamary, sea trout, sea patwa, annafolk, sea donkey, pomfret, moonfish, mackerel, barracuda and blue fish1960, World Fishing - Volume 9, page 27
2. Someone or something that lives or works at sea and is similar in some way to a donkey, especially by performing humble tasks.
   • There was an odd look of confusion aloft, or rather let me describe it as a want of that sort of precision which a sailor's eye would seek for and instantly miss, even in the commonest old sea-donkey of a collier.1895, William Clark Russell, The Honour of the Flag, page 88
   • Looking at me you would think that I am just an old 'sea donkey'; you would never have thought that I have shaken hands with the very Emperor of Great Britain!1947, K. H. C. Lo, Forgotten Wave, page 96
3. A term of opprobrium.
   • You've more brass than a highwayman, you fat-headed sea-donkey!1876, Theresa West, All for an Ideal: a Girl's Dream of a Past Period, page 139
   • You fat-headed son of a sea donkey! You portentous prig! You are a nice trainer for hopeful ingenuous youth!1884, Theresa Cornwallis J. West, The doom of Doolandour - Volume 3, page 67