fish
fish (fĭsh) noun
plural fish or fishes
1. Any of numerous cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates of the superclass Pisces, characteristically having fins, gills, and a streamlined body and including specifically: a. Any of the class Osteichthyes, having a bony skeleton. b. Any of the class Chondrichthyes, having a cartilaginous skeleton and including the sharks, rays, and skates.
2. The flesh of such animals used as food.
3. Any of various primitive aquatic vertebrates of the class Cyclostomata, lacking jaws and including the lampreys and hagfishes.
4. Any of various unrelated aquatic animals, such as a jellyfish, cuttlefish, or crayfish.
5. Informal. A person who is deficient in something: a cold fish; a poor fish.
noun, attributive.
Often used to modify another noun: fish parts; fish gaffs.
verb
fished, fishing, fishes
verb, intransitive
1. To catch or try to catch fish.
2. To look for something by feeling one's way; grope: fished in both pockets for a coin.
3. To seek something in a sly or indirect way: fish for compliments.
verb, transitive
1. a. To catch or try to catch (fish). b. To catch or try to catch fish in: fish mountain streams.
2. To catch or pull as if fishing: deftly fished the corn out of the boiling water.
phrasal verb.
fish out
To deplete (a lake, for example) of fish by fishing.
idiom.
fish in troubled waters
To try to take advantage of a confused situation.
fish or cut bait Informal
To proceed with an activity or abandon it altogether.
like a fish out of water
Completely unfamiliar with one's surroundings or activity.
neither fish nor fowl
Having no specific characteristics; indefinite.
other fish to fry Informal
Other matters to attend to: He declined to come along to the movie, saying he had other fish to fry.
[Middle English, from Old English fisc.]