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fish definition

fish (fis̸h)

noun pl. fish, fishes fish′es

  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.

Etymology: 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

Etymology: 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 Idioms

drink like a fish

to drink heavily, esp. alcoholic liquor

fish in troubled waters

to try to gain something by taking advantage of a confused or troubled situation

fish or cut bait

to proceed energetically with a task or give it up altogether

fish out

to deplete the stock of fish in (a lake, etc.)

like a fish out of water

out of one's element; in surroundings not suited to one

neither fish, flesh, nor fowl

not belonging to a district or recognizable category or class
now often shortened to neither fish nor fowl

other fish to fry

other, more important things to attend to

the Fishes

Pisces, the constellation and twelfth sign of the zodiac
Fish definition

Fish (fis̸h)

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

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Fish454 years ago
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