I. ˈfish noun
( plural fish or fishes )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fisc; akin to Old High German fisc fish, Old Norse fiskr, Gothic fisks, Latin piscis, Old Irish īasc
1. : an exclusively aquatic vertebrate or invertebrate animal — usually used in combination
star fish
cuttle fish
jelly fish
2.
a. : any of numerous cold-blooded strictly aquatic water-breathing craniate vertebrates that include the cyclostomes, elasmobranchs, and higher gilled aquatic vertebrates with cartilaginous or bony skeletons or sometimes only the last of these groups, being on the one hand nearly coextensive with Pisces in its broadest use, on the other coextensive with Teleostomi, usually with the addition of Choanichthyes, that have typically an elongated somewhat spindle-shaped body terminating in a broad caudal fin, limbs in the form of fins when present at all, and a 2-chambered heart by which blood is sent through the thoracic gills to be oxygenated before passing to the organs and tissues of the body and returning in venous condition to the heart, that are usually oviparous, often producing great numbers of eggs which are fertilized in the water after they are laid, and that are important to man especially as a source of food, fertilizers, and oils and for sport
b. : a particular kind of fish: as
(1) Britain : salmon
(2) : cod
(3) Africa : a dogfish served as food
3. : the flesh of fish used as food
4.
a. : person — often used with a disparaging qualifier
regarded him as … a queer fish — Nevil Shute
as cold a fish as you'd care to meet — Saturday Review
a handful of poets, philosophers and other odd fish — G.W.Johnson
b. : a person who is easily taken in : sucker
I feel sorry for the poor fish
5. : something that resembles a fish: as
a.
(1) : a purchase used to fish the anchor
(2) : a piece of timber that is shaped like a fish and that is used to strengthen a mast or yard
b. : fishplate
c. : fish joint 1
d. slang : torpedo 3
e. : tools or other equipment lost down a drilled well and recoverable only by fishing
6.
a. : a simplified form of the game of authors usually played by children
b. : a counter (as in a game of chance) sometimes shaped like a fish
7. slang
a. plural fish : dollar
got over a thousand fish apiece in back pay — Frederic Wakeman
b. : a new prison inmate
three days after my arrival in Sing Sing prison as a new fish in the teen-age bracket — Frank O'Leary
8. : a ballroom dance in which the partners move in close embrace
•
- fish out of water
- neither fish nor fowl
- other fish to fry
[s]fish.jpg[/s] [
fish 2a: 1 mandible, 2 nasal opening, 3 eye, 4 cheek, 5 operculum, 6 dorsal fins, 7 lateral line, 8 caudal fin, 9 scales, 10 anal fin, 11 anus, 12 pectoral fin, 13 pelvic fin, 14 maxilla, 15 premaxilla, 16 upper jaw
]
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English fisshen, from Old English fiscian; akin to Old High German fiscōn to fish, Old Norse fiska, Gothic fiskon; denominative from the root of English fish (I)
intransitive verb
1.
a.
(1) : to attempt to catch fish by any means or for any purpose
fish from a boat
fish for cod
(2) : to catch fish
leaders a few inches long or too short … — there were always a hundred little things which could cause a boat not to fish — E.K.Gann
b.
(1) : to search for anything that is under water (as with a hook or dredge)
fish for pearls
(2) : to recover or attempt to recover tools or other equipment lost down a drilled well
c. : to engage in a search of any kind by or as if by groping or feeling
fishing in the subconscious … brings to light … wayward associations — D.L.Bolinger
for ten minutes or so this trio was busily engaged fishing in the grass, for a lost token is a serious matter — O.S.Nock
fishing in an inside pocket he handed me a square white envelope — Hartley Howard
— often used with for
he started to fish around for a match — L.C.Stevens
fishing for other applications the industry has produced a novel parade of articles — Monsanto Magazine
d. : to seek to elicit or draw forth by hinting or other roundabout means — often used with for
fishing for praise of his ability — Arnold Bennett
fishing for compliments
2. : to be in adjustment for catching fish — used of a net or other fishing device
3. : to be fishable
this stream fishes well
4. of a Salvationist : to speak with individuals to help them make the decision to follow Christ : engage in personal evangelism
transitive verb
1.
a. : to catch or try to catch (as salmon) ; also : to collect (as coral) from the sea bottom
b. : to draw as if fishing
he fished his one crutch from under the bed — Earle Birney
fished some cigarettes out of his shirt pocket — R.O.Bowen
the ammunition also sank but was fished up — Frank Sebenham
2.
a. : to fish in
fished the stream all morning
b. : to fish with : use in fishing (as a boat, net, or lure)
3. : to draw or pull (electric wires) through a conduit or between floors or walls with a hook and line or wire
4. : to hoist the flukes of (an anchor)
•
- fish or cut bait
III. verb
•
- fish in troubled waters