butterfish Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of numerous small flat Atlantic food fish having smooth skin
  2. noun small marine fish with a short compressed body and feeble spines
    stromateid; stromateid fish.
  3. noun slippery scaleless food fish of the northern Atlantic coastal waters
    Pholis gunnellus; rock gunnel.

WordNet

But"ter*fish` noun
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) A name given to several different fishes, in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus, as the Stromateus triacanthus of the Atlantic coast, the Epinephelus punctatus of the southern coast, the rock eel, and the kelpfish of New Zealand.

Webster 1913