oldwife

[ old-wahyf ]

noun

, plural old·wives.

1. any of various fishes, as the alewife, the menhaden, or a West Indian fish of the family Balistidae.
2. old squaw.

oldwife

/ ˈəʊldˌwaɪf /

noun

1. another name for old squaw
2. any of various fishes, esp the menhaden or the alewife

Word History and Origins

Origin of oldwife¹

First recorded in 1580–90; old + wife

Example Sentences

Conger eels bark, schoolmasters sound as if they were delivering a lecture, and the oldwife gossips away with chirps and chatters.

From Time Magazine Archive

As these are in the freshes, so the salts afford at certain times of the year many other kinds of fish in infinite shoals, such as the oldwife, a fish not much unlike a herring, and the sheepshead, a sort of fish which they esteem in the number of their best.

From Project Gutenberg

Those which I know myself, I remember by the names of herring, rock, sturgeon, shad, oldwife, sheepshead, black and red drums, trout, taylor, greenfish, sunfish, bass, chub, plaice, flounder, whiting, fatback, maid, wife, small turtle, crab, oyster, mussel, cockle, shrimp, needlefish, bream, carp, pike, jack, mullet, eel, conger eel, perch, and catfish.

From Project Gutenberg