Etimology
From Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (“fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (“fish”) (compare West Frisian fisk, Dutch vis, German Fisch, Danish fisk, Norwegian fisk, Swedish fisk, Icelandic fiskur), from Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (“fish”) (compare Irish iasc, Latin piscis).
noun
fish (countable and uncountable, plural fish or fishes)
(countable) A cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.
(archaic or loosely) Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.
(Newfoundland) Cod; codfish.
(uncountable) The flesh of the fish used as food.
(uncountable) A card game in which the object is to obtain cards in pairs or sets of four (depending on the variation), by asking the other players for cards of a particular rank.
(uncountable, derogatory, slang) A woman.
(countable, slang) An easy victim for swindling.
(countable, poker slang) A bad poker player. Compare shark (a good poker player).
(countable, nautical) A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace, originally shaped roughly like a fish, used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.
(nautical) A purchase used to fish the anchor.
(countable, nautical, military, slang) A torpedo (self-propelled explosive device).
(zoology) A paraphyletic grouping of the following extant taxonomic groups:
(cartomancy) The thirty-fourth Lenormand card.
(prison slang) A new (usually vulnerable) prisoner.
(Jamaica, offensive, derogatory) A male homosexual; a gay man.
Examples
Salmon is a fish.
The fishmonger sells fishes from all over the world.
Ichthyologists study the fish of the world.
We have many fish in our aquarium.
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.
Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me.
Include low-mercury fish in your diet 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.
Though Lena is a vegetarian, she doesn't have any problem with eating fish.
The second and third fish went to the middle of her long superstructure and under her forward deck.
As we came off patrol we had some torpedoes fired at us by an enemy submarine but we dived out of the way. About April 10 we fired our fish in two salvoes at a convoy.
When a young male enters the prison system he is looked over and is labeled a FISH.
Him father is a fish so mi know say it's sprat datHis father is a homosexual, so I know that he is too.
His father is a homosexual, so I know that he is too.
Bere gunman deh ya we nuh fren fish Lots of gunmen are here, we don't befriend gay men
Lots of gunmen are here, we don't befriend gay men
Related words
synonyms
(potential swindling victim): mark
(card game): Go Fish
(bad poker player): donkey, donk
hyponyms
(aquatic cold-blooded vertabrae with gills): Cephalaspidomorphi, Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes
(food): seafood
related terms
(adj): fishly, piscine, fishy (inf.)
(astronomical): The Fish, Pisces
(collective): piscifauna
(combinatorial form): pisci- (Latinate, general)
(fish-catcher): See fisher
(fish-eater): piscivore
(fish-infesting): piscolous
(fish-killing): piscicidal
(fish-like): fishly, piscose (culinary), fishy, fishlike (inf.)
(fish science): fishlore, piscatology (irreg.)
(fish-shaped): pisciform
(fish vendor): fishmonger, piscitarian
(full of fish): fishful, pisculent
(skin disorder): fish-skin disease
(state of being a fish): fishdom, fishhood (formal), piscinity (formal), fishiness (inf.)
(taxonomical): Actinopterygii, bony fish, cartilaginous fish, finned fish, finfish, Osteichthyes, Sarcopterygii
Etimology
Deverbal from to fish (etymology 3).
noun
fish (plural fishes)
A period of time spent fishing.
An instance of seeking something.
Examples
The fish at the lake didn't prove successful.
Merely two fishes for information told the whole story.
Etimology
From Old English fiscian, from Proto-West Germanic *fiskōn, from Proto-Germanic *fiskōną.
verb
fish (third-person singular simple present fishes, present participle fishing, simple past and past participle fished)
(intransitive) To hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water.
(transitive) To search (a body of water) for something other than fish.
(fishing, transitive) To use as bait when fishing.
(intransitive) To (attempt to) find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.
(intransitive, followed by "for" or "around for") To talk to people in an attempt to get them to say something, or seek to obtain something by artifice.
(intransitive, cricket) Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it.
(nautical, transitive) To repair (a spar or mast) by fastening a beam or other long object (often called a fish) over the damaged part (see Noun above).
(nautical, transitive) To hoist the flukes of.
Examples
We went fishing for crabs by the pier.
She went to the river to fish for trout.
It's cheer up, my lads, let your hearts never fail,
For the bonny ship the Diamond goes a-fishing for the whale.
They fished the surrounding lakes for the dead body.
`What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. `Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'
Synonym: rummage
Why are you fishing through my things?
He was fishing for the keys in his pocket.
The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information.
The actors loitered at the door, fishing for compliments.
Laoctonos is fishing for a compliment,But ’tis his due. Yes, you have drunk more wine,And shed more blood, than any man in Thebes.
[…] the crew were set to replacing and splicing the rigging and fishing the spars.
Found that the cause of the ship's having drifted on the night of the 19th, was from the bight of the chain span having slipped between the shank and upper fluke, thereby preventing the lower fluke from opening […]
Related words
synonyms
(try to catch a fish): angle, drop in a line
(try to find something): rifle, rummage
(attempt to gain (compliments, etc)): angle
Etimology
Borrowed from French fiche (“peg, mark”).
noun
fish (plural fishes)
(obsolete) A counter, used in various games.