fish Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun 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. noun 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. noun (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Pisces
    Pisces.
  4. noun the twelfth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about February 19 to March 20
    Pisces; Pisces the Fishes.
  5. verb seek indirectly
    angle.
    • fish for compliments
  6. verb catch or try to catch fish or shellfish
    • I like to go fishing on weekends

WordNet

Fish noun
Etymology
F. fiche peg, mark, fr. fisher to fix.
Definitions
  1. A counter, used in various games.
Fish noun
Etymology
OE. fisch, fisc, fis, AS. fisc; akin to D. visch, OS. & OHG. fisk, G. fisch, Icel. fiskr, Sw. & Dan. fisk, Goth. fisks, L. piscis, Ir. iasg. Cf. Piscatorial. In some cases, such as fish joint, fish plate, this word has prob. been confused with fish, fr. F. fichea peg.
Wordforms
plural Fishes or collectively, Fish
Definitions
  1. A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water.
  2. (Zoöl.) An oviparous, vertebrate animal usually having fins and a covering scales or plates. It breathes by means of gills, and lives almost entirely in the water. See Pisces. ✍ The true fishes include the Teleostei (bony fishes), Ganoidei, Dipnoi, and Elasmobranchii or Selachians (sharks and skates). Formerly the leptocardia and Marsipobranciata were also included, but these are now generally regarded as two distinct classes, below the fishes.
  3. pl. The twelfth sign of the zodiac; Pisces.
  4. The flesh of fish, used as food.
  5. (Naut.) (a) A purchase used to fish the anchor. (b) A piece of timber, somewhat in the form of a fish, used to strengthen a mast or yard. ✍ Fish is used adjectively or as part of a compound word; as, fish line, fish pole, fish spear, fish-bellied.
Fish intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Fished ; present participle & verbal noun Fishing
Definitions
  1. To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish, by any means, as by angling or drawing a net.
  2. To seek to obtain by artifice, or indirectly to seek to draw forth; as, to fish for compliments.
    Any other fishing question. Sir W. Scott.
Fish transitive verb
Etymology
OE. fischen, fisken, fissen, AS. fiscian; akin to G. fischen, OHG. fiscn, Goth. fiskn. See Fish the animal.
Definitions
  1. To catch; to draw out or up; as, to fish up an anchor.
  2. To search by raking or sweeping. Swift.
  3. To try with a fishing rod; to catch fish in; as, to fish a stream. Thackeray.
  4. To strengthen (a beam, mast, etc.), or unite end to end (two timbers, railroad rails, etc.) by bolting a plank, timber, or plate to the beam, mast, or timbers, lengthwise on one or both sides. See Fish joint, under Fish, n.

Webster 1913