fish

The definition of a fish is an animal that lives in the water and breathes through gills.

(noun)

An example of a fish is salmon.

To fish is defined as to try and obtain information or to catch animals that live in the water, such as salmon.

(verb)

  1. An example of fish is when you ask questions to try to find out a secret.
  2. An example of fish is when you try to catch salmon using a pole and bait.

YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2013 by LoveToKnow Corp.

See fish in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. fish, fishes

  1. any of three classes (jawless, cartilaginous, and bony fishes) of coldblooded vertebrate animals living in water and having fins, permanent gills for breathing, and, usually, scales
  2. loosely any animal living in water only, as a dolphin, crab, or oyster: often used in combination: shellfish, jellyfish
  3. the flesh of a fish used as food
  4. Informal a person thought of as like a fish in being easily lured by bait, lacking intelligence or emotion, etc.

Origin: ME < OE fisc, akin to Ger fisch, Du visch < IE base *pisk- > L piscis

intransitive verb

  1. to catch or try to catch fish, or shrimps, lobsters, etc.
  2. to try to get something indirectly or by cunning: often with for
  3. to grope: often with for

Origin: OE fiscian

transitive verb

  1. to catch or try to catch fish, shrimps, etc. in: to fish a stream
  2. to get by or as by fishing
  3. to grope for, find, and bring to view: often with out or up: to fish a coin from one's pocket
  4. Naut. to pull (an old-fashioned anchor) to the gunwale, as from the cathead, preparatory to securing it

adjective

  1. of fish or fishing
  2. selling fish

Related Forms:

Fish, Hamilton 1808-93; U.S. statesman

See fish in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. Fish fish or fish·es
  1. Any of numerous cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates of the superclass Pisces, characteristically having fins, gills, and a streamlined body and including specifically:
    a. Any of the class Osteichthyes, having a bony skeleton.
    b. Any of the class Chondrichthyes, having a cartilaginous skeleton and including the sharks, rays, and skates.
  2. The flesh of such animals used as food.
  3. Any of various primitive aquatic vertebrates of the class Cyclostomata, lacking jaws and including the lampreys and hagfishes.
  4. Any of various unrelated aquatic animals, such as a jellyfish, cuttlefish, or crayfish.
  5. Informal A person, especially one considered deficient in something: a poor fish.
verb fished, fish·ing, fish·es
verb, intransitive
  1. To catch or try to catch fish.
  2. To look for something by feeling one's way; grope: fished in both pockets for a coin.
  3. To seek something in a sly or indirect way: fish for compliments.
verb, transitive
  1. a. To catch or try to catch (fish).
    b. To catch or try to catch fish in: fish mountain streams.
  2. To catch or pull as if fishing: deftly fished the corn out of the boiling water.
Phrasal Verb: fish out To deplete (a lake, for example) of fish by fishing.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old English fisc

.

American politician who was a U.S. representative from New York, (1843-1845), governor of New York (1849-1850), a U.S. senator (1851-1857), and U.S. secretary of state (1869-1877).

See fish in Ologies

Fish

See also biology; zoology

anadromous

a term describing fish that migrate upriver to spawn.

catadromous

a term describing fish that migrate downriver to spawn.

halieutics

1. the activity of fishing.

2. a work on fishing. —halieutic, adj.

ichthyism

a toxic condition caused by toxic fish roe.

ichthyolatry

the worship of fish or of fish-shaped idols.

ichthyology

1. the branch of zoology that studies fishes.

2. a zoological treatise on fish. —ichthyologist, n. —ichthyological, adj.

ichthyomancy

a form of divination involving the heads or entrails of fish.

ichthyomania

an abnormal love of fish.

ichthyophagy

the practice of eating or subsisting on fish. —ichthyophagist, n. —ichthyophagous, adj.

ichthyophobia

1. a ritual avoidance of fish, especially under the pressure of taboo.

2. an abnormal fear of fish.

ichthyosis

a dermatologie condition in which the skin resembles fish scales. —ichthyotic, adj.

ichthyotomy

the anatomical structure of fishes and its study. —ichthyotomist, n.ichthyotomic, adj.

piscary

the right of one person to fish in waters belonging to another. See also law.

piscatology

Rare. the art or science of fishing.

piscatorian, piscatorialist

an angler or fisherman.

pisciculture

the breeding of fish, as a hobby or for scientific or commercial purposes. —pisciculturist, n.piscicultural, adj.

planktology, planktonology

the branch of biology that studies plankton, especially as the sustenance of planktivorous fish.

Waltonian

1. a keen angler or fisherman, after Izaak Walton (1593-1683), English author of The Compleat Angler.

2. an admirer of the works of Izaak Walton. —Waltonian, adj.

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