sea n [ = SALT WATER, WATER]. For first proverb in sense 1, cp MORE Utopia [1518], ed J H Lupton (Oxford, 1895), p. 28 Vndique ad superos tantundern esse uiae [tr R Robinson 1551] 'the way to heauen owte of all places is of like length and distance' (cp ERASMUS Apophthegmata lib. viii Bono animo idem undelibet ad inferos descensus est, itself adapted from a saying of CICERO Quaestiones Tusculum I. 104). For combs. in sense 2: DC sea boil (Nfld: 1905-); cp OED 18 j ~ boot (1851), ~ owl 2 (Nfld: 1842), ~ ox 2 (Nfld: 1613), ~ parrot 1 (1664); Cent ~ pea; OED ~ pheasant 2 (1672-); OED ~ 23: ~ stick (1618-1813); cp NID ~ stock 'ship's stores.'
1 Proverb as near to heaven by sea as by land
[1583] 1940 Gilbert's Voyages & Enterprises ii, 420 [Hayes' narrative] Munday the ninth of September, in the afternoone, the Frigat was neere cast away, oppressed by waves, yet at that time recovered: and giving foorth signes of joy, the Generall sitting abaft with a booke in his hand, cried out unto us in the Hind (so oft as we did approch within hearing) We are as neere to heaven by sea as by land.
the sea is made of mothers' tears [proverb] (1895 Christmas Review 12).
2 Attrib, comb sea-bird: any of the species of birds frequenting inshore or coastal waters, esp those taken as food or bait; BIRD1, SALTWATER ~ .
[1766] 1971 BANKS 134 When Small Fish is not to be got [for bait] as in some situations it cannot they use sea birds [Oceanodroma leucorhoa leucorhoa]. 1842 JUKES i, 307 The flesh [of seal] was rather dark and strong, but by no means disagreeable as that of some sea-birds I have eaten. 1866 WILSON 31 It is bluff, barren, and rocky, without inhabitants, save the turs, the gulls, and other sea-birds which build their nests in its clefts. 1915 HOWLEY 268-9 Fishermen relate that on several occasions the Indians were seen in their canoes coming from the Funk Islands where they had been in search of eggs and sea birds. 1937 DEVINE 67 Sea birds keeping near the land, / Tell a storm is near at hand. / But flying seaward out of sight, / You may stay and fish all night. 1977 BUTLER 40 Those people suffered unbelievable hardships and privation through the [Depression] years. If it had not been for the seabirds they shot, they would have starved completely.
sea-boil: blister, sore or inflammation caused by excessive exposure to salt water; WATER PUP.
1905 DUNCAN 39 [There are also] sea-boils—with which the fishermen are cruelly afflicted upon the hands and wrists in raw weather. 1919 GRENFELL2 143 'I never gets sea boils,' one old chap told me the other day. 'How is that?' I asked. 'Oh! I always cuts my nails on a Monday, so I never has any.'
sea boot: knee-length leather boot worn by fishermen and sealers.
1887 BOND 37 Then, indeed he looked his best, his fine figure set off to advantage in the tight-fitting blue guernsey, with the appropriate accompaniment of heavy sea-boots, and yellow oil-cloth sou'-wester. 1898 The Record 9 Jones, who was splitting fish on the stage-head, saw the accident, and in less time than it takes to write it, threw off his sea-boots and plunged into the water to her rescue. 1924 ENGLAND 288 A sober, serious-minded man is the bosun; wears a sou'wester, a stiff canvas jacket that has gradually changed from white to black; is belted with a knife, and has vast canvas trousers over enormous sea boots.
sea-cherry: variety of sea-cucumber; holothurian.
1884 DEMING 85-6 What lures the cod from the ocean depths to which he goes in winter is not certainly known, but it is surmised that he either follows up the small shore fish or seeks the sea cherry—a small red berry that grows on the weedy bottoms where the cod is found. 1888 STEARNS 147 Mr Murphy had picked up a quantity of star-fish, and several species of holothurian, like the sea-cucumber, only they were red, and one of the fishermen, he said, called them sea-cherries. They were small, round, and red, and had a sort of bud on one end of them, from which they extended their feelers or tentacles, when in the water and undisturbed.
sea-dab: variety of jelly-fish (1971 NOSEWORTHY 241).
1975 GUY 66 There's a shockin' sight ofsea dabs (jelly fish) out there today.
sea duck: eider duck.
1870 Can Naturalist v, 303 The common eider does not breed or assume the adult plumage until the third year: it is called the 'sea duck.'
sea hen: (a) great skua (Catharacta skua skua); (b) pomarine jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus) .
1951 PETERS & BURLEIGH 219 Great skua... Local names: Sea Hen, Grand Goose... Uncommon summer visitant off our coasts. 1959 MCATEE 34 ~ Pomarine jaeger (A sizable bird seen at sea).
sea-owl: see sea-parrot.
1842 BONNYCASTLE ii. 234 The puffin ... which may be called the sea-owl, from its extraordinarv head and wise look.
sea-ox: walrus.
1613 PURCHAs 626 Neere to New-found-land in 47 deg. is great killing of the Morse or Sea-oxe. [OED]
sea-parrot, also parrot: Atlantic common puffin; PARSON. PUFFIN1.
[1778] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 351 Shot twenty-two terns, an eider-duck, and a sea-parrot. [1794] 1968 THOMAS 90 These Birds were all of one kind and are called Puffins or Sea Parrots. Their heads are exactly alike Parrots in point of shape, much about their size, the bodys of them black and white. 1869 HARDY 265 The puffin is termed a parrot, and the little auk, the bull-bird. 1964 Evening Telegram 28 Oct, p. 5 And the worst of it is that the same people who call a dolphin a puffin also call a bird a puffin (unless, rarely, they call it a sea parrot).
sea-pea: variety of wild pea (Lathyrus japonicus).
[1822] 1856 CORMACK 7 On the sea beaches the common plants are the sea plantain, Plantago Maritima, the sea pea, Pisum Maritimum.
sea-pheasant: pintail duck (Anas acuta).
1842 BONNYCASTLE ii, 236 The pintail duck ... from its plumage and the shape of its tail is called the sea pheasant. 1959 MCATEE 11 ~ Pintail (The long tail and decorative plumage of the male suggest the latter part
of this name ... )
sea-pigeon: see SEA-PIGEON.
sea-pup: see sea-boil above; WATER PUP.
T 145-65 They say they used [a brass chain] as a cure for the sea pups or another term for water whelps. It was sort of pimple that would get infected by the clothing and the hands in salt water.
sea rat: see sea-cherry above (P 154-78).
sea stick: herring salted at sea immediately after being caught.
1960 FUDGE 51 We had taken all the herring from Mr Paul's seine and had secured them in pickle or in sea sticks, as we call it, and about one hundred barrels of dressed and fillet herring.
sea stock: rum carried on vessel for medicinal purposes.
[1952] 1965 PEACOCK (ed) iii, 896 "Young Bung-'er-eye": When I was out walking, my sea stock to buy, Got tricked in the liquor and bought Bung-'er-eye. P 102-60 Around 1900 the puncheons [of rum] faded out and the mugup of tea or coffee with a figged bun came into use. The only rum used was what they called sea stock in case a man became ill or contracted a heavy cold.
