scup

plural scups

1. A common sparoid food fish, Stenotomus chrysops, of temperate regions of the Atlantic coast of North America; the porgy.

   1995, “sheepshead”, entry in Percy Russell, Anita Williams, The Nutrition and Health Dictionary, page 391, A saltwater fish, a cousin of porgies and scups. The sheepshead has large, broad incisor teeth, much like a sheep.

   3 more examples

   When I was 12 years old, my father got me a boat and I went fishing off of Cape Cod. I hooked a scup and as I was reeling it in, I hooked a 4.5 foot baby thresher shark who proceeded to eat my boat.

   1975, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Jaws, spoken by Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss)

   Scup, in the Bay also called porgy, maiden, and fairmaid, are rather plain-looking fish — dull silver with 12 to 15 indistinct vertical stripes, flecked with light blue on their sides.

   2006, Alice Jane Lippson, Robert L. Lippson, Life in the Chesapeake Bay, page 276

   On a lark, he took a small scup, or porgy, and a stamp pad and demonstrated how to make a print.

   2007 August 8, Brett Martin, “First a Hook, Then Ink: An Artist’s Catch”, in New York Times

plural scups

1. USdialectalA swing.