fish

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See also FISH, and Fish

Contents

English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English, from Old English fisc, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (compare West Frisian/Swedish fisk, Dutch vis, German Fisch), from Proto-Indo-European *pik̑sk̑os, *pisḱ- (compare Irish iasc, Latin piscis, Russian пискарь (piskárĭ) 'groundling', Sanskrit picchā 'calf (leg)', picchila, picchala 'slimy, slippery').

Noun[edit]

fish (countable and uncountable; plural fish or fishes)

  1. (countable) A cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.
    Salmon is a fish.
    God created all the fishes of the world.
    God created all the fish of the world.
    We have many fish in our aquarium.
  2. (possibly archaic) Any animal that lives exclusively in water.
    • 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, History of the Earth and Animated Nature, Volume IV:
      The whale, the limpet, the tortoise and the oyster… as men have been willing to give them all the name of fishes, it is wisest for us to conform.
  3. (uncountable) The flesh of the fish used as food.
    • 2012 March, “Flexing your brain”, Consumer Reports on Health, volume 24, number 3, page 9: 
      Include low-mercury fish in your diet (such as salmon) and eat at least five servings a day of fruit and vegetables, especially dark leafy greens, broccoli, and cauliflower. Avoid saturated and trans fats, which may hasten brain aging.
    The seafood pasta had lots of fish but not enough pasta.
  4. (countable) A period of time spent fishing.
    The fish at the lake didn't prove successful.
  5. (countable) An instance of seeking something.
    Merely two fishes for information told the whole story.
  6. (uncountable) A card game in which the object is to obtain pairs of cards.
  7. (uncountable, derogatory, slang) A woman.
  8. (countable, slang) An easy victim for swindling.
  9. (countable, poker slang) A bad poker player.
  10. (countable, nautical) A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.
  11. (countable, nautical) Torpedo
    • 1977, Richard O'Kane, Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang, Ballantine Books (2003), page 344:
      The second and third fish went to the middle of her long superstructure and under her forward deck.
Usage notes[edit]

The collective plural of fish is always fish in the UK; in the US, fishes is encountered as well. When referring to two or more kinds of fish, the plural is fishes. Informally, the plural fishies is also used.

Synonyms[edit]
Hyponyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from fish (noun)
Translations[edit]
vertebrate animal
collective plural of fish
archaic: any vertebrate that lives in water and cannot live outside it
flesh of fish as food
period of time spent fishing
instance of seeking something
card game
derogatory slang: woman
slang: easy victim for swindling
nautical: makeshift brace
See also[edit]

Adjective[edit]

fish (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to fish; piscine; ichthyic.
    It was a fine fish dinner.
Translations[edit]
relating to fish

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old English fiscian, from Proto-Germanic *fiskōną.

Verb[edit]

fish (third-person singular simple present fishes, present participle fishing, simple past and past participle fished)

  1. (intransitive) To try to catch fish, whether successfully or not.
    She went to the river to fish for trout.
  2. (transitive) To try to find something other than fish in (a body of water).
    They fished the surrounding lakes for the dead body.
  3. (intransitive) To attempt to find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.
    Why are you fishing through my things?
    He was fishing for the keys in his pocket.
  4. (intransitive, followed by "around") To attempt to obtain information by talking to people.
    The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information.
  5. (intransitive, cricket) Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it.
  6. (transitive, figuratively, followed by "for") To attempt to gain.
    The actors loitered at the door, fishing for compliments.
  7. (nautical) To repair a spar or mast using a brace often called a fish (see NOUN above).
    • 1970, James Henderson, The Frigates, an account of the lesser warships of the wars from 1793 to 1815, Wordsworth (1998), page 143:
      […] the crew were set to replacing and splicing the rigging and fishing the spars.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from the verb fish
Translations[edit]
intransitive: to try to catch fish
transitive: to try to find something in a body of water
to attempt to find by searching among other objects
to attempt to obtain information by talking to people
cricket: to attempt to hit outside off stump and miss
to attempt to gain something
nautical: to repair by using a brace

External links[edit]

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