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Fish
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills. countable
"Salmon is a fish."
- 2 A period of time spent fishing.
"The fish at the lake didn't prove successful."
- 3 A counter, used in various games. obsolete
- 4 Acronym of fluorescent in situ hybridization, a molecular cytogenetic technique used to identify whether a DNA sample has a specific sequence. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
- 5 any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills wordnet
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- 6 A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:; A jawless fish (paraphyletic infraphylum Agnatha). countable, uncountable
- 7 An instance of seeking something.
"Merely two fishes for information told the whole story."
- 8 the flesh of fish used as food wordnet
- 9 A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:; In infraphylum Gnathostomata:; A cartilaginous fish (class Chondrichthyes). countable, uncountable
- 10 (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Pisces wordnet
- 11 A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:; In infraphylum Gnathostomata:; A bony fish (clade Osteichthyes), including tetrapods. countable, uncountable
- 12 A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:; In infraphylum Gnathostomata:; A placoderm (paraphyletic class †Placodermi). countable, uncountable
- 13 A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:; In infraphylum Gnathostomata:; A spiny shark (paraphyletic class †Acanthodii) countable, uncountable
- 14 Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water. archaic, broadly, countable, uncountable
"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."
- 15 Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.; Now used in combination: (e.g., starfish, cuttlefish, jellyfish, etc). archaic, broadly, countable, uncountable
- 16 Cod; codfish. Newfoundland, countable, uncountable
- 17 The flesh of the fish used as food. uncountable
"The seafood pasta had lots of fish but not enough pasta."
- 18 An aquatic or semiaquatic animal suitable for consumption during fasting on Fridays during Lent. countable, uncountable
"Since the semi-aquatic beaver was a skilled swimmer, the Church declared it to be a fish for dietary purposes."
- 19 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
- 20 An easy victim for swindling. countable, slang
- 21 A bad poker player. Compare shark (a good poker player). countable, slang
- 22 A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace, originally shaped roughly like a fish, used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship. countable
- 23 A purchase used to fish the anchor. countable, uncountable
- 24 A torpedo (self-propelled explosive device). countable, slang
"The second and third fish went to the middle of her long superstructure and under her forward deck."
- 25 The thirty-fourth Lenormand card. countable, uncountable
- 26 A (feminine) woman. (See also fishy.) derogatory, positive, slang, sometimes, uncountable
- 27 A new (usually vulnerable) prisoner. countable, slang, uncountable
"When a young male enters the prison system he is looked over and is labeled a FISH."
- 28 A male homosexual; a gay man. Jamaica, countable, derogatory, offensive, uncountable
"Him father is a fish so mi know say it's sprat dat"
- 29 A drag queen or transgender woman who looks like a cisgender woman. countable, uncountable
- 30 A spaceship. countable, rare, uncountable
- 1 To hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water, or to collect coral or pearls from the bottom of the sea. intransitive, transitive
"We went fishing for crabs by the pier."
- 2 catch or try to catch fish or shellfish wordnet
- 3 To search (a body of water) for something other than fish. transitive
"They fished the surrounding lakes for the dead body."
- 4 seek indirectly wordnet
- 5 To use as bait when fishing. transitive
"`What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. `Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'"
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- 6 To (attempt to) find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects. intransitive
"Why are you fishing through my things?"
- 7 To talk to people in an attempt to get them to say something, or seek to obtain something by artifice. intransitive
"The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information."
- 8 Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it. intransitive
- 9 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). transitive
"[…] the crew were set to replacing and splicing the rigging and fishing the spars."
- 10 To hoist the flukes of. transitive
"Found that the cause of the ship's having drifted on the night of the 19th, was from the bight of the chain span (used to fish the anchor,) having slipped between the shank and upper fluke, thereby preventing the lower fluke from opening […]"
- 11 To draw or guide (a wire or cable) by means of fish tape. transitive
Etymology
From Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (“fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (“fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (“fish”). Cognates Cognate with Yola wish (“fish”), North Frisian fasch, fask, Fesk (“fish”), Saterland Frisian Fisk (“fish”), West Frisian fisk (“fish”), Cimbrian biss, visch, viss (“fish”), Dutch vis, visch (“fish”), Dutch Low Saxon, Mòcheno visch (“fish”), German Fisch (“fish”), German Low German Fösch (“fish”), Luxembourgish Fësch (“fish”), Yiddish פֿיש (fish, “fish”), Danish, Elfdalian, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish fisk (“fish”), Faroese, Icelandic fiskur (“fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (fisks, “fish”), Crimean Gothic fisct (“fish”). Compare Irish iasc (“fish”), Latin piscis (“fish”).
Deverbal from to fish (etymology 3).
From Old English fiscian, from Proto-West Germanic *fiskōn, from Proto-Germanic *fiskōną. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian fiskje (“to fish”), Dutch vissen (“to fish”), German fischen (“to fish”), Limburgish vésche, vèsse (“to fish”), Luxembourgish fëschen (“to fish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fiske (“to fish”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish fiska (“to fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍉𐌽 (fiskōn, “to fish”).
Borrowed from French fiche (“peg, mark”).
From fish, a metonymic occupational surname for a fish seller or a nickname for someone who resembled a fish. It could also be an Americanized spelling of German Fisch.
See also for "fish"
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