Dolly Varden

[ dol-ee vahr-dn ]

noun

1. 1. a woman's costume of the late 19th century, including a flower-trimmed, broad-brimmed hat and a dress consisting of a tight bodice and bouffant panniers in a flower print over a calf-length quilted petticoat.
   2. the hat of this costume.
   3. the dress of this costume.
2. Also Dol·ly Var·den trout []. a char, Salvelinus malma, inhabiting fresh and marine waters of western North America and eastern Asia, formerly considered the same species as the bull trout.
3. Newfoundland. a large earthenware drinking cup used on fishing vessels.

Dolly Varden

/ ˈdɒlɪ ˈvɑːdən /

noun

1. a woman's large-brimmed hat trimmed with flowers
2. a red-spotted trout, Salvelinus malma, occurring in lakes in W North America

Word History and Origins

Origin of Dolly Varden¹

First recorded in 1870–75; costume named after a colorfully dressed character in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge (1841); applied to the fish in allusion to its coloring

Word History and Origins

Origin of Dolly Varden¹

C19: from the name of a character in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge (1841)

Example Sentences

For more than 20 years, salmon caught outside their typical range have been recorded by subsistence harvesters who target other Arctic species, including Dolly Varden and Arctic char.

From Science Daily

Frankie Dillon, an Indigenous fisherman who helps conduct fish surveys for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, remembered seeing his first salmon in about 2010 on the Big Fish River in the northern Yukon while tagging Dolly Varden.

From Science Daily

Fish here include Dolly Varden, Arctic char, grayling, all five species of Pacific salmon found in North America, and, perhaps most famously, “leopard” rainbow trout, so nicknamed for their brilliantly colored fine, round spots.

From Washington Post

So are other structures that provide both shelter and a jolt of newness to the streetscape: a scale model of an antique passenger train car outside the Hell’s Kitchen bar Dolly Varden; the shady Mediterranean pergola interwoven with vines and flowers at the West Village restaurant Casa La Femme; and the transparent box, delineated by a blue stripe of light, that appears to hover over the sidewalk in front of the NoHo Egyptian restaurant Zooba.

From New York Times

“It is a perfectly functioning system,” said Kraft, who takes clients up to the branches of the Koktuli, where they fish for rainbow trout, Dolly Varden, Arctic grayling and all five species of Pacific salmon.

From Los Angeles Times