ziffius

English

Noun

ziffius (plural not attested)

1. Obsolete form of xiphias.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     The horrible sea-satyre , that doth shew
     His fearefull face in time of greatest storme ;
     Huge ziffius , whom mariners eschew