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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†GAIRFISH, n. “ The name given, in the vicinity of Dundee, to the Porpoise” (Ags. 1808 Jam.). Prob. the bottle-nosed dolphin, Tursiops truncatus.Ags. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XIII. 493:
At first sight, it would be thought beneficial to the salmon fishing, if a method could be invented, by which the porpoises, or Gair fish as they are called, which devour so many salmon, might be destroyed.

[Gair (if our conjecture as to the species of porpoise is correct) prob. = obs. Eng. gare, a spear or javelin (O.E. gār): Eng. garfish (of the same origin) is used to indicate the needlefish, a small fish with a long spear-like snout, Belone belone.]

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