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fish

UK/fɪʃ/ US/ˈfɪʃ/ very common slang
noun (4) verb (2)

noun

1.

any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills

  • “the shark is a large fish”
  • “in the living room there was a tank of colorful fish”
2.

the flesh of fish used as food

  • “in Japan most fish is eaten raw”
  • “after the scare about foot-and-mouth disease a lot of people started eating fish instead of meat”
  • “they have a chef who specializes in fish”
3.

(astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Pisces

Synonyms
4.

the twelfth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about February 19 to March 20

Synonyms

verb

1.

seek indirectly

  • “fish for compliments”
Synonyms
2.

catch or try to catch fish or shellfish

  • “I like to go fishing on weekends”

Origin

From Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (“fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (“fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *piskós (“fish”). Cognates Cognate with Yola wish (“fish”), North Frisian fasch, fask, Fesk (“fish”), Saterland Frisian Fisk (“fish”), West Frisian fisk (“fish”), Cimbrian biss, visch, viss (“fish”), Dutch vis (“fish”), Dutch Low Saxon and Mòcheno visch (“fish”), German Fisch (“fish”), German Low German Fösch (“fish”), Luxembourgish Fësch (“fish”), Yiddish פֿיש (fish, “fish”), Danish, Elfdalian, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fisk (“fish”), Faroese and Icelandic fiskur (“fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (fisks, “fish”), Crimean Gothic fisct (“fish”). Compare Irish iasc (“fish”), Latin piscis (“fish”).

Phrases

  • a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
  • a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle
  • all is fish that comes to the net
  • all's fish that comes to the net
  • anemone fish
  • big fish
  • big fish eat little fish
  • big fish in a little pond
  • don't fish off the company dock
  • fish down
  • fish for compliments
  • fish one's wish

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.