Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PIL'CHARD, n. [Ir. pilseir.]

A fish resembling the herring, but thicker and rounder; the nose is shorter and turns up; the under jaw is shorter; the back more elevated, and the belly less sharp. These fishes appear on the Cornish coast in England, about the middle of July, in immense numbers, and furnish a considerable article of commerce. – Encyc.