salt-water tailor

Salt \Salt\, a. [Compar. {Salter}; superl. {Saltest}.] [AS.
   sealt, salt. See {Salt}, n.]
   1. Of or relating to salt; abounding in, or containing, salt;
      prepared or preserved with, or tasting of, salt; salted;
      as, salt beef; salt water. "Salt tears." --Chaucer.
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   2. Overflowed with, or growing in, salt water; as, a salt
      marsh; salt grass.
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   3. Fig.: Bitter; sharp; pungent.
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            I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me. --Shak.
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   4. Fig.: Salacious; lecherous; lustful. --Shak.
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   {Salt acid} (Chem.), hydrochloric acid.

   {Salt block}, an apparatus for evaporating brine; a salt
      factory. --Knight.

   {Salt bottom}, a flat piece of ground covered with saline
      efflorescences. [Western U.S.] --Bartlett.

   {Salt cake} (Chem.), the white caked mass, consisting of
      sodium sulphate, which is obtained as the product of the
      first stage in the manufacture of soda, according to
      Leblanc's process.

   {Salt fish}.
      (a) Salted fish, especially cod, haddock, and similar
          fishes that have been salted and dried for food.
      (b) A marine fish.

   {Salt garden}, an arrangement for the natural evaporation of
      sea water for the production of salt, employing large
      shallow basins excavated near the seashore.

   {Salt gauge}, an instrument used to test the strength of
      brine; a salimeter.

   {Salt horse}, salted beef. [Slang]

   {Salt junk}, hard salt beef for use at sea. [Slang]

   {Salt lick}. See {Lick}, n.

   {Salt marsh}, grass land subject to the overflow of salt
      water.

   {Salt-marsh caterpillar} (Zool.), an American bombycid moth
      ({Spilosoma acraea} which is very destructive to the
      salt-marsh grasses and to other crops. Called also {woolly
      bear}. See Illust. under {Moth}, {Pupa}, and {Woolly
      bear}, under {Woolly}.

   {Salt-marsh fleabane} (Bot.), a strong-scented composite herb
      ({Pluchea camphorata}) with rayless purplish heads,
      growing in salt marshes.

   {Salt-marsh hen} (Zool.), the clapper rail. See under {Rail}.
      

   {Salt-marsh terrapin} (Zool.), the diamond-back.

   {Salt mine}, a mine where rock salt is obtained.

   {Salt pan}.
      (a) A large pan used for making salt by evaporation; also,
          a shallow basin in the ground where salt water is
          evaporated by the heat of the sun.
      (b) pl. Salt works.

   {Salt pit}, a pit where salt is obtained or made.

   {Salt rising}, a kind of yeast in which common salt is a
      principal ingredient. [U.S.]

   {Salt raker}, one who collects salt in natural salt ponds, or
      inclosures from the sea.

   {Salt sedative} (Chem.), boracic acid. [Obs.]

   {Salt spring}, a spring of salt water.

   {Salt tree} (Bot.), a small leguminous tree ({Halimodendron
      argenteum}) growing in the salt plains of the Caspian
      region and in Siberia.

   {Salt water}, water impregnated with salt, as that of the
      ocean and of certain seas and lakes; sometimes, also,
      tears.
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            Mine eyes are full of tears, I can not see;
            And yet salt water blinds them not so much
            But they can see a sort of traitors here. --Shak.
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   {Salt-water sailor}, an ocean mariner.

   {Salt-water tailor}. (Zool.) See {Bluefish}.
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Tailor \Tai"lor\, n. [OF. tailleor, F. tailleur, fr. OF.
   taillier, F. tailler to cut, fr. L. talea a rod, stick, a
   cutting, layer for planting. Cf. {Detail}, {Entail},
   {Retail}, {Tally}, n.]
   1. One whose occupation is to cut out and make men's
      garments; also, one who cuts out and makes ladies' outer
      garments.
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            Well said, good woman's tailor . . . I would thou
            wert a man's tailor.                  --Shak.
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   2. (Zool.)
      (a) The mattowacca; -- called also {tailor herring}.
      (b) The silversides.
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   3. (Zool.) The goldfish. [Prov. Eng.]
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   {Salt-water tailor} (Zool.), the bluefish. [Local, U. S.]
      --Bartlett.

   {Tailor bird} (Zool.), any one of numerous species of small
      Asiatic and East Indian singing birds belonging to
      {Orthotomus}, {Prinia}, and allied genera. They are noted
      for the skill with which they sew leaves together to form
      nests. The common Indian species are {Orthotomus
      longicauda}, which has the back, scapulars, and upper tail
      coverts yellowish green, and the under parts white; and
      the golden-headed tailor bird ({Orthotomus coronatus}),
      which has the top of the head golden yellow and the back
      and wings pale olive-green.
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Bluefish \Blue"fish`\, n. (Zool.)
   1. A large voracious fish ({Pomatomus saitatrix}), of the
      family {Carangid[ae]}, valued as a food fish, and widely
      distributed on the American coast. On the New Jersey and
      Rhode Island coast it is called the {horse mackerel}, in
      Virginia {saltwater tailor}, or {skipjack}.
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   2. A West Indian fish ({Platyglossus radiatus}), of the
      family {Labrid[ae]}.
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   Note: The name is applied locally to other species of fishes;
         as the cunner, sea bass, squeteague, etc.
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