Fishing-expedition
noun, Informal.
1.
a legal proceeding mainly for the purpose of interrogating an adversary, or of examining his or her property and documents, in order to gain useful information.
2.
any inquiry carried on without any clearly defined plan or purpose in the hope of discovering useful information.
noun phrase
An attempt, on the part of the police, a prosecutor, etc, to discover evidence where it may or may not be; a sort of inquisition: She had nothing special in mind to ask Joan Tesell; it was just a fishing expedition (1961+)
Related Terms
go fishing
An attempt to find useful information by asking questions at random. For example, The sales force was told to go on a fishing expedition to find out what they could about the company’s competitors. This expression was taken up by lawyers to describe interrogating an adversary in hopes of finding relevant evidence and is now used more broadly still. [ c. 1930 ]
Read Also:
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plural noun 1. a relatively shallow area of the sea in which fish are usually abundant.
- Fishing
[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, […]
- Fish-hooks
[fish-hoo k] /ˈfɪʃˌhʊk/ noun 1. a hook used in fishing. were used for catching fish (Amos 4:2; comp. Isa. 37:29; Jer. 16:16; Ezek. 29:4; Job. 41:1, 2; Matt. 17:27).
- Fitches
[fich] /fɪtʃ/ noun 1. the European polecat, Mustela putorius. 2. its fur, often dyed to imitate other furs. /fɪtʃ/ noun 1. another name for polecat (sense 1) 2. the fur of the polecat or ferret (Isa. 28:25, 27), the rendering of the Hebrew _ketsah_, “without doubt the Nigella sativa, a small annual of the order […]
- Fitchew
[fich] /fɪtʃ/ noun 1. the European polecat, Mustela putorius. 2. its fur, often dyed to imitate other furs. /ˈfɪtʃuː/ noun 1. an archaic name for polecat /fɪtʃ/ noun 1. another name for polecat (sense 1) 2. the fur of the polecat or ferret