fat a For combs. in sense 2, NID ~ back 3.
   1 Of a sealing season, prosperous; see also var senses of FAT, n.
   1934 Nfld Qtly Summer, p. 30 In speaking of the seal fishery I quoted an old adage: 'A frosty winter for a fat spring.'
   2 Comb fatback (pork): salt-cured fat from a hog.
   T 75/7-64 They never saw a bit o' meat for a long time. Them days there used to be ham butt pork, you know, an' fat back. C 64-5 A sure cure for warts is fatback pork. It must be rubbed on the area briefly, once a day for three consecutive days, each time the pork being thrown over the left shoulder, and then discarded. T 178/9-65 No, not fat back, not then; mostly what you call heavy mess. 1972 MURRAY 222 'Hambutt' pork differed from 'fat back' pork used for frying purposes in that 'it had a bone in it.'
   fat oxen: the ruddy turnstone, a distinctively marked shore-bird (Arenaria interpres).
   1870 Can Naturalist v, 292 [The turnstone is] abundant on the seashore in the fall of the year, and generally so fat that the settlers have bestowed on it the appropriate name of 'fat oxen.' 1967 Bk of Nfld iii, 283 Ruddy Turnstone: Fat Oxen (it is a common name in Newfoundland but the origin is unknown).
   fat pork: see fatback above; also attrib.
   [l794] 1968 THOMAS 140 People who go into the Woods in hott weather smear their faces over with Fait Pork or some severe acid which the Muscatoos dislike and then they do not follow. 1927 DOYLE (ed) 5 "Wedding in Renews": They'll have sweet cake and turnip tops, / Fat pork and castor oil. 1937 DEVINE 55 [Vang is] melted fat pork served on fresh codfish. C 68-4 You might get hit with a fat-pork bun. C 70-15 Another favourite outport item of diet was the fat-pork touton. These were buns made with molasses and dotted with little chunks of fat pork. They were nearly always put in the lunch box on fishing trips, or especially when cutting firewood.

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