fish

plural fishes

1. countableA typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills; any vertebrate that is not a tetrapod.

   Salmon is a fish.

   3 more examples

   The fishmonger sells fishes from all over the world.

   Ichthyologists study the fish of the world.

   We have many fish in our aquarium.

2. countableuncountableAny vertebrate, including tetrapods.
3. archaicbroadlycountableuncountableAny animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.

   Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me.

   1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

   2 more examples

   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.

   1774, Oliver Goldsmith, History of the Earth and Animated Nature, volume IV

   "What an excellent fish dolphin is to eat cooked," he said. "And what a miserable fish raw. I will never go in a boat again without salt or limes."

   1952 September 1, Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 80

   1. archaicbroadlycountableuncountableNow used in combination: (e.g., starfish, cuttlefish, jellyfish, etc).
4. NewfoundlandcountableuncountableCod; codfish.
5. uncountableThe flesh of the fish used as food.

   The seafood pasta had lots of fish but not enough pasta.

   2 more examples

   Though Lena is a vegetarian, she doesn't have any problem with eating fish.

   Include low-mercury fish in your diet (such as salmon) and eat at least five servings a day of fruit and vegetables, especially dark leafy greens, broccoli, and cauliflower. Avoid saturated and trans fats, which may hasten brain aging.

   2012 March, “Flexing your brain”, in Consumer Reports on Health, volume 24, number 3, page 9

6. countableuncountableCatholicismAn aquatic or semiaquatic animal suitable for consumption during fasting on Fridays during Lent.

   Since the semi-aquatic beaver was a skilled swimmer, the Church declared it to be a fish for dietary purposes.

   2017 April 7, sjchurchadmin, Saint Joachim Catholic Church

   2 more examples

   Throughout the Catholic Church's long history, archbishops and other prominent church leaders have made numerous declarations about which animals can be considered "fish for the purposes of Lent, even if those animals have virtually no similarities to fish in a scientific sense.

   2023 February 20, William Taylor Potter, The Daily Advertiser

   During the 17th and 18th centuries, Catholics around the world began to liberally interpret "fish" as any aquatic-based creature, despite blood temperature, and created local meat exceptions that remain in place today.

   2023 March 9, Jessie Molloy, Tasting Table

7. uncountableA 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.

   Synonyms: Go Fish

8. countableslangAn easy victim for swindling.

   Synonyms: mark

9. countableslangcard gamesA bad poker player. Compare shark (a good poker player).

   Synonyms: donkey, donk

10. countablenauticalA makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace, originally shaped roughly like a fish, used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.
11. countableuncountablenauticalA purchase used to fish the anchor.
12. countableslanggovernmentA torpedo (self-propelled explosive device).

    The second and third fish went to the middle of her long superstructure and under her forward deck.

    1977, Richard O'Kane, Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang, Ballantine Books, published 2003, page 344

    1 more example

    As we came off patrol we had some torpedoes fired at us by an enemy submarine but we dived out of the way. About April 10 we fired our fish in two salvoes at a convoy.

    1999, John Winton, The Submariners: Life in British Submarines 1901-1999, page 114

13. countableuncountablecartomancyThe thirty-fourth Lenormand card.
14. derogatorypositiveslangsometimesuncountableA (feminine) woman. (See also fishy.)
15. countableslanguncountableA new (usually vulnerable) prisoner.

    When a young male enters the prison system he is looked over and is labeled a FISH.

    1986 April 19, Michael Rathbone, “Tell Someone”, in Gay Community News, page 4

16. JamaicacountablederogatoryoffensiveuncountableA male homosexual; a gay man.

    Bere gunman deh ya we nuh fren fish (hey bwoy)

    Lots of gunmen are here, we don't befriend gay men (hey boy)

    2021 August 4, “Street Cred”performed by Skeng

    1 more example

    Him father is a fish so mi know say it's sprat dat

    His father is a homosexual, so I know that he is too.

    2007, “Touch The Road” (track 18), in Gangsta for Life: The Symphony of David Brooks, performed by Mavado (singer)

17. countableuncountableLGBTQ slang; sometimes problematic; LGBTQ slang; sometimes problematicA drag queen or transgender woman who looks like a cisgender woman.
18. countablerareuncountablecellular automataA spaceship.
19. derogatoryslanguncountableThe penis.

plural fishes

1. A period of time spent fishing.

   The fish at the lake didn't prove successful.

2. An instance of seeking something.

   Merely two fishes for information told the whole story.

present singular third person fishes · participle present fishing · participle past fished · past fished

1. intransitivetransitiveTo hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water, or to collect coral or pearls from the bottom of the sea.

   We went fishing for crabs by the pier.

   3 more examples

   She went to the river to fish for trout.

   19th c., anonymous, "The Bonny Ship the 'Diamond'" It's cheer up, my lads, let your hearts never fail, For the bonny ship the Diamond goes a-fishing for the whale.

   Thou hast fished salmon a thousand times, and mightst have taken a lesson.

   1828, Sir Walter Scott, chapter V, in The Fair Maid of Perth, page 133

2. transitiveTo search (a body of water) for something other than fish.

   They fished the surrounding lakes for the dead body.

3. transitivefishingTo use as bait when fishing.

   `What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. `Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'

   1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 40

4. intransitiveTo (attempt to) find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.

   Why are you fishing through my things?

   1 more example

   He was fishing for the keys in his pocket.

   Synonyms: rummage, rifle, rummage

5. intransitiveTo talk to people in an attempt to get them to say something, or seek to obtain something by artifice.

   The actors loitered at the door, fishing for compliments.

   2 more examples

   The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information.

   Laoctonos is fishing for a compliment, But ’tis his due. Yes, you have drunk more wine, And shed more blood, than any man in Thebes.

   1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts

6. intransitiveball gamesOf a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it.
7. transitivenauticalTo repair (a spar or mast) by fastening a beam or other long object (often called a fish) over the damaged part (see Noun above).

   […] the crew were set to replacing and splicing the rigging and fishing the spars.

   1970, James Henderson, The Frigates, an account of the lesser warships of the wars from 1793 to 1815, Wordsworth, published 1998, page 143

   Synonyms: angle, drop in a line

8. transitivenauticalTo hoist the flukes of.

   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 […]

   1860, Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, page 214

9. transitiveTo draw or guide (a wire or cable) by means of fish tape.

plural fishes

1. obsoleteA counter, used in various games.

1. abbreviationacronymuncountablebiologyAcronym of fluorescent in situ hybridization, a molecular cytogenetic technique used to identify whether a DNA sample has a specific sequence.

plural Fishes

1. A surname.

1. astrologyThe constellation and zodiacal sign Pisces.

   Pisces the Fish, the twelfth Sign, had been easy to find.

   1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 150

   4 more examples

   The Fiſh directeth the feet: and theſe three be the ſigns of Winter.

   1668, ‘Godfridus’, The Knowledge of Things Unknown, London: G.P. for G. Sawbridge, page 20

   The Fish, His Church in union bound; The Lamb, once slain, but now enthroned; The Bull the victory shall gain; The Twins, Divine and human reign.

   1862, [Frances Rolleston], Mazzaroth, or, The Constellations: Part III, London: Rivingtons, page 7

   The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, And next the Crab, the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales; The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-Goat, The Man that carries the Water-pot, And Fish with glittering scales.

   1893, E. W. Bullinger, Witness of the Stars, London: The author, page 16

   Considering that after the domination of Taurus and Aries, the Fish (Pisces) comes next in succession as the Zodiacal sign for the Vernal Equinox, and is now the constellation in which the Sun stands at that period, it seems not impossible that the astronomical change has been the cause of the adoption of this new symbol.

   1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 48

   Synonyms: Fishes