Search

[fish-ing] /ˈfɪʃ ɪŋ/

noun
1.
the act of catching .
2.
the technique, occupation, or diversion of catching .
3.
a place or facility for catching .
[fish] /fɪʃ/
noun, plural (especially collectively) fish (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) fishes.
1.
any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
2.
(loosely) any of various other aquatic animals.
3.
the flesh of fishes used as food.
4.
Fishes, Astronomy, Astrology. the constellation or sign of Pisces.
5.
Informal. a person:
an odd fish; a poor fish.
6.
a long strip of wood, iron, etc., used to strengthen a mast, joint, etc.
7.
Cards Slang. an incompetent player whose incompetence can be exploited.
8.
Slang. a dollar:
He sold the car for 500 fish.
9.
Slang. a new prison inmate.
verb (used with object)
10.
to catch or attempt to catch (any species of fish or the like).
11.
to try to catch fish in (a stream, lake, etc.):
Let’s fish the creek.
12.
to draw, as by fishing (often followed by up or out):
He fished a coin out of his pocket for the boy.
13.
to search through, as by fishing.
14.
Nautical.

verb (used without object)
15.
to catch or attempt to catch fish, as by angling or drawing a net.
16.
to search carefully:
He fished through all his pockets but his wallet was gone.
17.
to seek to obtain something indirectly or by artifice:
to fish for compliments; to fish for information.
18.
to search for or attempt to catch onto something under water, in mud, etc., by the use of a dredge, rake, hook, or the like.
19.
to attempt to recover detached tools or other loose objects from an oil or gas well.
Verb phrases
20.
fish out, to deplete (a lake, stream, etc.) of fish by fishing.
Idioms
21.
drink like a fish, to drink alcoholic beverages to excess:
Nobody invites him out because he drinks like a fish.
22.
fish in troubled waters, to take advantage of troubled or uncertain conditions for personal profit.
23.
fish or cut bait, to choose a definite course of action, especially to decide whether to participate in or retreat from an activity.
24.
fish out of water, a person out of his or her proper or accustomed environment:
He felt like a fish out of water in an academic atmosphere.
25.
neither fish nor fowl, having no specific character or conviction; neither one nor the other.
26.
other fish to fry, other matters requiring attention:
When it was time to act, they had other fish to fry.
/ˈfɪʃɪŋ/
noun
1.

2.
another word for piscary (sense 2)
/fɪʃ/
noun (pl) fish, fishes
1.

2.
any of various similar but jawless vertebrates, such as the hagfish and lamprey
3.
(not in technical use) any of various aquatic invertebrates, such as the cuttlefish, jellyfish, and crayfish
4.
the flesh of fish used as food
5.
(informal) a person of little emotion or intelligence: a poor fish
6.
short for fishplate
7.
Also called tin fish an informal word for torpedo (sense 1)
8.
a fine kettle of fish, an awkward situation; mess
9.
drink like a fish, to drink (esp alcohol) to excess
10.
have other fish to fry, to have other activities to do, esp more important ones
11.
like a fish out of water, out of one’s usual place
12.
(Irish) make fish of one and flesh of another, to discriminate unfairly between people
13.
neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, neither this nor that
verb
14.
(intransitive) to attempt to catch fish, as with a line and hook or with nets, traps, etc
15.
(transitive) to fish in (a particular area of water)
16.
to search (a body of water) for something or to search for something, esp in a body of water
17.
(intransitive) foll by for. to seek something indirectly: to fish for compliments
/fɪʃ/
noun acronym
1.
fluorescence in situ hybridization, a technique for detecting and locating gene mutations and chromosome abnormalities
n.

verbal noun from fish (v.), c.1300, fysschynge; figurative use from 1540s. Fishing rod (1550s) is older than fishing pole (1791). To “go fishing” is as old as Old English on fiscoð gan.

[O]f all diversions which ingenuity ever devised for the relief of idleness, fishing is the worst qualified to amuse a man who is at once indolent and impatient. [Scott, “Waverly,” 1814]

n.

Old English fisc, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German fisc, Old Norse fiskr, Middle Dutch visc, Dutch vis, German Fisch, Gothic fisks), from PIE *peisk- “fish” (cf. Latin piscis, Irish iasc, and, via Latin, Italian pesce, French poisson, Spanish pez, Welsh pysgodyn, Breton pesk).

Fish story attested from 1819, from the tendency to exaggerate the size of the catch (or the one that got away). Figurative sense of fish out of water first recorded 1610s.
v.

Old English fiscian (cf. Old Norse fiska, Old High German fiscon, German fischen, Gothic fiskon), from the root of fish (n.). Related: Fished; fishing.
fish
(fĭsh)

Plural fish or fishes
Any of numerous cold-blooded vertebrate animals that live in water. Fish have gills for obtaining oxygen, a lateral line for sensing pressure changes in the water, and a vertical tail. Most fish are covered with scales and have limbs in the form of fins. Fish were once classified together as a single group, but are now known to compose numerous evolutionarily distinct classes, including the bony fish, cartilaginous fish, jawless fish, lobe-finned fish, and placoderms.

Related Terms

go fishing

noun

verb

Related Terms

big fish, bigger fish to fry, cold fish, fine kettle of fish, go fishing, kettle of fish, like shooting fish in a barrel, poor fish, queer fish, tin fish
first in, still here

called _dag_ by the Hebrews, a word denoting great fecundity (Gen. 9:2; Num. 11:22; Jonah 2:1, 10). No fish is mentioned by name either in the Old or in the New Testament. Fish abounded in the Mediterranean and in the lakes of the Jordan, so that the Hebrews were no doubt acquainted with many species. Two of the villages on the shores of the Sea of Galilee derived their names from their fisheries, Bethsaida (the “house of fish”) on the east and on the west. There is probably no other sheet of water in the world of equal dimensions that contains such a variety and profusion of fish. About thirty-seven different kinds have been found. Some of the fishes are of a European type, such as the roach, the barbel, and the blenny; others are markedly African and tropical, such as the eel-like silurus. There was a regular fish-market apparently in Jerusalem (2 Chr. 33:14; Neh. 3:3; 12:39; Zeph. 1:10), as there was a fish-gate which was probably contiguous to it. Sidon is the oldest fishing establishment known in history.