sea puss

== English == === Etymology 1 === From Quiripi (Unquachog) seépus (“river”), cognate to Abenaki sibo (“river”), sibos (“brook, little river”). ==== Alternative forms ==== sea-puss seapoose, sea-poose sea-purse, sea purse sepoose ==== Noun ==== sea puss (plural sea pusses) A strong seaward current; a riptide or undertow, especially as results when a sandbar formed by waves suddenly gives way, and which is dangerous to swimmers. 1911 October 25, Millicent F. Eady and Calvin T. Allison, a letter published in 1913 in the Annual Report of the United States Life-Saving Service, page 96: On the afternoon of the date mentioned the wind was blowing offshore and the tide was running in, forming sea pusses at intervals along the shore. We swam out to where the bar had been. Finding that it had shifted, we turned to come back and found that the ide had carried us into a sea puss, and that we were being swept seaward. The (flowing) channel which results when a cut is made (often deliberately by humans) in a barrier beach which separates a bay from an ocean, so as to control the water level in the bay (which affects water mills) and its salinity (which affects shellfish). ===== Usage notes ===== The spellings sea puss, seapoose and sea-purse (and variants of them) are most often used when the word has sense "dangerous current". When the word has the sense "deliberately-cut channel which affects water level", the spelling sepoose is common. Some dictionaries and glossaries define "sea puss" as a longshore current, but in actual use it refers to a seaward current. ==== References ==== === Etymology 2 === ==== Noun ==== sea puss (plural sea pusses) Alternative form of sea-purse (“egg case; sea bean”).