cod-liver oil
1
2.9
- noun
- /ˈkɒdˌlɪvər ɔɪl/
:
aceite de hígado de bacalao
- For a shiny coat, veterinarians often recommend cod-liver oil for dogs.
Examples
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"Look, he ordered cod-liver oil.
Fiction book (1990) -
If we could afford cod-liver oil for our dogs, perhaps we could get ourselves a little bit of beef once in a while.
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You know, Sam, they do say that cod-liver oil is good to make a dog's coat shiny.
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That's how we get cod-liver oil.
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Many parents give their children cod-liver oil as a supplement for its vitamins A and D.
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A recent study showed that taking cod-liver oil can help improve heart health.
Synonyms
9
2.7
A liquid from oily fish that people take as a health supplement
A fatty oil from fish livers used to give vitamins A and D
A fatty oil from halibut livers that supplies vitamin A
An oil from salmon refined and sold in capsules or as a liquid for health
Oil made from tuna used in food and health supplements
Surface Forms
Morphology
cod-liver + oil
Despite the hyphenated form 'cod-liver', the meaning is transparently compositional: it is oil derived from the livers of cod (cod + liver + oil). This literal, referential structure is common cross-linguistically and a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would be able to infer the general meaning.
Etymology
Cod-liver oil comes from squeezing the liver of the cod fish to get oil, a practice fishermen and doctors used for a long time. People gave this oil as a simple 'medicine' because it has vitamins A and D, so today the name means an oil used as a 'dietary supplement'.