/ fɪʃ; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun ( pl. fish or fishes )
HELP NOTE : Fish is the usual plural form. The older form, fishes , can be used to refer to different kinds of fish.
1.
[ C ] a creature that lives in water, breathes through gills , and uses fins and a tail for swimming :
They caught several fish.
tropical / marine / freshwater fish
shoals (= groups) of fish
a fish tank / pond
There are about 30 000 species of fish in the world.
The list of endangered species includes nearly 600 fishes.
Fish stocks in the Baltic are in decline.
—see also coarse fish , flatfish , sea fish , shellfish , wet fish
2.
[ U ] the flesh of fish eaten as food :
frozen / smoked / fresh fish
fish pie
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IDIOMS
- a fish out of water
- have bigger / other fish to fry
- neither fish nor fowl
- an odd / a queer fish
- there are plenty more fish in the sea
—more at big adjective , cold adjective , different , drink verb , shoot verb
■ verb
1.
[ v ] fish (for sth) to try to catch fish with a hook, nets, etc. :
You can fish for trout in this stream.
The trawler was fishing off the coast of Iceland.
2.
[ v ] go fishing to spend time fishing for pleasure :
Let's go fishing this weekend.
3.
[ vn ] to try to catch fish in the area of water mentioned :
They fished the loch for salmon.
4.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] to search for sth, using your hands :
She fished around in her bag for her keys.
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PHRASAL VERBS
- fish for sth
- fish sth/sb out (of sth)
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English fisc (as a noun denoting any animal living exclusively in water), fiscian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vis , vissen and German Fisch , fischen .