seal n
1 Phr get out in the seals: cp ICE 1: at, for, to the ice.
[1939] 1983 FROUDE 9 That ended our sealing trip we tried to git out in the seals but our labour proved in vain.
4 Attrib, comb ~ bird: ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) (1987 MONTEVECCHI & TUCK 240), common eider (ibid 235), ~ fat, ~ finger, ~ fishery, ~ fishing, ~ gun, ~ net, ~ oil, ~ oil lamp, ~ pelt, ~ penis: see COCK, ~ worm: see COD WORM.
1832 MOSS MS Diary 2 Apr 2 hands began cutting seal's fat. 1987 MCDONALD 32 On several occasions, the Trading Company forced increases in the price of seal fat, cod oil and herring. 1985 BUSCH 61 A scratch or other open wound...made the sealer liable to an occupational hazard known as 'seal-finger' or 'spekk-finger' (Norwegian for 'blubber finger'). [1734] 1987 Nfld Studies iii, p. 190 [Dealers of St Malo] Supply them with almost every thing Needfull, to carry on the Cod-Fishery, Seal-Fishery, and Furring, nay even with green Men. 1985 BUSCH 41 So remarkable was the seal 'fishery' (a natural and useful term, not least because, quite logically, if seals be fish they are not--for Catholic purposes--meat) that over time it has played and still plays a considerable role in the folklore and indeed the psychological make-up of Newfoundlanders. 1937 JUNEK 27 'It's getting the wood that is the hardest job; getting fish is play; and seal-fishing is real fun.' 1981 SPARKES 149 Usually six men would be waiting [outside the church], armed with their great long muzzle-loading seal guns charged with about a handful of powder. 1987 POOLE 15 We did not have any seal nets of our own as that was the first year staying down [on the Labrador]. [1764] 1971 BANKS (ed Lysaght) 191 I believe the Fishery will be the main thing and perhaps some Whale and Swael oil. 1983 MARTIN 59 Mushroom farms and underground oil storage [at the Bell Island mines] seem far removed from the old days of pickaxes and seal oil lamps. 1989 CANDOW 38 When the seal pelts were unloaded, the skinners were the first to take over. Their job was to separate the skin from the fat. 1988 Evening Telegram 22 Apr, p. 3 He [noted] that powder made from the seal penis is used as an aphrodisiac. 1989 ibid 26 June, p. 1 The co-called seal worms, also known as cod worms, have a life cycle that is thought to include the stomachs of harbour seals and the flesh of some fish.
