soup and fish

noun

Men's formal white tie dress.

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Meanings

nounsoup and fish (usually uncountable, plural soup and fishes)

plural soup and fishes · alternative soup-and-fish

  1. datedslanguncountableusuallyMen's formal white tie dress.

    […] to not buy hundred-dollar official soup-and-fishes when officially recommended to do so […]

    1937, Marion Rolfe Johnson Deitrick, Tomorrow the Accolade, page 169
    2 more examples

    Not a thing, you notice, about Elmer showing up in the soup and fish—the women thought that was all right. May Wilson even said that he looked well in the outfit.

    1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post

    Then the boys shake the moth-balls out of the “soup and fishes” and try to crowd 180-250 pounds of avoirdupois into 135-160 pound suits, trusting that twenty-year-old seams will stand the strain for one more night.

    1933, Desmos of Delta Sigma Delta, volumes 39-40, page 173

Origin

From the first courses served at gala dinners, where formal dress is worn.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

soup and fish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soup%20and%20fish

MLA

“soup and fish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soup%20and%20fish. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “soup and fish,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soup%20and%20fish.

Source: soup and fish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.