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[fish] /fɪʃ/

noun
1.
Hamilton, 1808–93, U.S. statesman: secretary of state 1869–77.
/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.

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.

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.