Dolly Varden

US: (dol′ē vär′dn)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

Dol•ly Var•den  (dol′ē vär′dn), 

1. Clothing a woman's costume of the late 19th century, including a flower-trimmed, broad-brimmed hat and a dress consisting of a tight bodice and bouffant panniers in a flower print over a calf-length quilted petticoat.
2. Clothing the hat of this costume.
3. Clothing the dress of this costume.
4. Fish [Ichthyol.] Also called bull trout, Doll′y Var′den trout′. a char, Salvelinus malma, inhabiting fresh and marine waters of western North America and eastern Asia.
5. Canada, British Terms [Newfoundland.] a large earthenware drinking cup used on fishing vessels.

• 1870–75; costume named after a colorfully dressed character in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge (1841); applied to fish in allusion to its coloring