daggerhead, noun

Plurals:
unchanged.
Origin:
Calque formed on South African Dutch dageraad.
dageraad.
1906 E. London Dispatch 3 July 3This fish was probably what is known as ‘daggerhead’ (pagrus laniarius).
1906 Natal Mercury Pictorial 719 (Pettman)While their catches include no very large fish, they got a fine variety. Among other sorts I noticed..Danes, Daggerheads.
1957 S. Schoeman Strike! 40The dageraad is also called daggerhead along the Pondoland and Natal coast.
1966 Van Heyningen & Berthoud Uys Krige 144Daggerhead..is, of course, a corruption of dageraad.
1976 E. Prov. Herald 14 Oct. 21I have heard it said that the small red fish, like daggerhead and roman, are all of one sex.
1982 D. Bickell in E. Prov. Herald 14 Dec. 19Some of the most popular table fish..include red steenbras, red roman, daggerhead, [etc.].
1992 Weekend Post 13 June 10The reef fish (like daggerhead and red roman) have largely disappeared because trawlers, local and foreign, have ‘dragged’ the reefs.
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