fish

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See also FISH, and Fish

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[edit] English

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fishfish
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animal
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animal
carp
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carp
eel
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eel
goldfish
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goldfish
herring
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herring
mackerel
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mackerel
ray
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ray
salmon
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salmon
sardine
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sardine
shark
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shark
trout
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trout
tuna
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tuna

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

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

[edit] Noun

fish (collectively (UK) fish or (US) and when referring to two or more kinds fishes or informally fishies)

  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.
  2. (collectively) Plural form of fish.
    We have many fish in our aquarium.
  3. (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.
  4. (uncountable) The flesh of the fish used as food.
    The seafood pasta had lots of fish but not enough pasta.
  5. (countable) A period of time spent fishing.
    The fish at the lake didn't prove successful.
  6. (countable) An instance of seeking something.
    Merely two fishes for information told the whole story.
  7. (uncountable) A card game in which the object is to obtain pairs of cards.
  8. (uncountable, derogatory, slang) A woman.
  9. (slang) An easy victim for swindling.
  10. (nautical) A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.
  11. (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.
  12. (poker slang) A bad poker player.
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[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
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[edit] See also

[edit] Adjective

fish (not comparable)

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

[edit] Etymology 2

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

[edit] Verb

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.
[edit] Synonyms
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[edit] Translations

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