broken p ppl DC broken fish Nfld (1832, 1883).
   Comb broken fish: dried and salted cod-fish with an irregular surface or 'face'; a defectively cured cod.
   [1578] 1935 Richard Hakluyt [Parkhurst's letter:] 125 ... the broken fysshe, [which] is no small quantity, at the least ii or thre thousand, [which] may be worthe xx li. or xxx li. yf yt were sale abell, and yet as good to eate as the hole. [1806] 1951 DELDERFIELD 82 An account of the sale of 1,147 Portuguese quintals of Newfoundland fish in 1806. It was listed '661 Qtls large, 208 Qtls small, 278 Qtls dumb, wet and broken.' 1832 MCGREGOR i, 232 The broken fish, dun fish, or whatever will not keep in warm countries ... is in general equally good for domestic consumption. 1883 HATTON & HARVEY 291 [Dried cod] are weighed and 'culled,' or assorted into four different kinds, called Merchantable (the best), Madeira, West India (intended for ... the negroes), and Dun, or broken fish, which will not keep, and is for home use. T 36-64 The broken was West India, and the thirds would be a little worse than Madeira and a little better than West Indee.
   broke(n) sugar: the small fragments resulting from breaking up a sugar-loaf or cone.
   1895 PROWSE 451n Mr Brown ... took them over to see old Billy Rabbits; of course the 'broke' sugar and the hot water and spirits were immediately produced, and a toast had to be proposed.

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