" But "fish" could be right after all, because Webster 2
lists the obsolete noun "cor," defined as "salt fish, esp. cod." So
maybe Mrs. Byrne slipped up.


Slipped up???

Far be it for me to be argumentative, but somehow these thoughts seem to be, let us say, inconsistent.
Wasn't Mrs. Byrne the one who thought that "cornobbled" meant getting hit with a fish?