pellack

English

Etymology

Compare Gaulish peileag.

Noun

pellack (plural pellacks)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, archaic) A porpoise.
   • 1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC:

     Did not the devil appear in the midst of the Tay, dressed in a priest's scapular, gambolling like a pellack amongst the waves

Further reading

• “pellack”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.