/bah'keuh low", bak'euh-/ ; Sp. /bah'kah lah"aw/ , n. , pl. bacalaos /-lowz"/ ; Sp. /-lah"aws/ . Spanish or Spanish-American Cookery.
1. codfish, esp. when dried and salted.
2. a dish of this, cooked with a tomato sauce, olives, garlic, etc.
[ 1545-55; bacal ( l ) ao, prob. bakailao, perh., by metathesis, cabellau, cabillau (F cabillaud ) fresh codfish, equiv. to Gascon cabilh, cabelh (dim. of cap head; see CHIEF) + a suffix, alluding to the fish's prominent head; though ML (Flanders) cabellauwus, the earliest attestation of the form (cf. MD cab ( b ) eliau, D kabeljauw ) suggests a non-Rom, N European origin ]