poor-john

poor-john (plural poor-johns)

1. A small European fish, of inferior quality to the cod.
   • 1653, John Harington, A Briefe View of the State of the Church:

     Poor-john and apple pies are all our fare.

2. Salted and dried hake.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or / alive? A fish: he smells like a fish: a very ancient and / fish-like smell; a kind of not of the newest Poor-John.

• “poor-john”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.