Fish /(fĭsh)/

Fish

n.
  1. A counter, used in various games.

Fish

n.

pl. Fishes, Fish ((fĭsh"ĕz))

  1. A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water.
  2. 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. (Zool.)
  3. The twelfth sign of the zodiac; Pisces.
  4. The flesh of fish, used as food.
  5. A purchase used to fish the anchor. (Naut.)

Phrases & Compounds
Age of Fishes
See under Age, n., 8.
Fish ball
fish (usually salted codfish) shared fine, mixed with mashed potato, and made into the form of a small, round cake.
Fish bar
Same as Fish plate (below).
Fish beam
a beam one of whose sides (commonly the under one) swells out like the belly of a fish.
Fish crow
a species of crow (Corvus ossifragus), found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It feeds largely on fish.
Fish culture
the artifical breeding and rearing of fish; pisciculture.
Fish davit
See Davit.
Fish day
a day on which fish is eaten; a fast day.
Fish duck
any species of merganser.
Fish fall
the tackle depending from the fish davit, used in hauling up the anchor to the gunwale of a ship.
Fish garth
a dam or weir in a river for keeping fish or taking them easily.
Fish glue
See Isinglass.
Fish joint
a joint formed by a plate or pair of plates fastened upon two meeting beams, plates, etc., at their junction; -- used largely in connecting the rails of railroads.
Fish kettle
a long kettle for boiling fish whole.
Fish ladder
a dam with a series of steps which fish can leap in order to ascend falls in a river.
Fish line
a line made of twisted hair, silk, etc., used in angling.
Fish louse
any crustacean parasitic on fishes, esp. the parasitic Copepoda, belonging to Caligus, Argulus, and other related genera. See Branchiura.
Fish maw
the stomach of a fish; also, the air bladder, or sound.
Fish meal
fish desiccated and ground fine, for use in soups, etc.
Fish oil
oil obtained from the bodies of fish and marine animals, as whales, seals, sharks, from cods' livers, etc.
Fish owl
a fish-eating owl of the Old World genera Scotopelia and Ketupa, esp. a large East Indian species (K. Ceylonensis).
Fish plate
one of the plates of a fish joint.
Fish pot
a wicker basket, sunk, with a float attached, for catching crabs, lobsters, etc.
Fish pound
a net attached to stakes, for entrapping and catching fish; a weir.
Fish slice
a broad knife for dividing fish at table; a fish trowel.
Fish slide
an inclined box set in a stream at a small fall, or ripple, to catch fish descending the current.
Fish sound
the air bladder of certain fishes, esp. those that are dried and used as food, or in the arts, as for the preparation of isinglass.
Fish story
a story which taxes credulity; an extravagant or incredible narration.
Fish strainer
A metal colander, with handles, for taking fish from a boiler.
Fish trowel
a fish slice.
Fish weir
a weir set in a stream, for catching fish.
Neither fish nor flesh
neither one thing nor the other.

Fish

v. i.

imp. & p. p. Fished; p. pr. & vb. n. Fishing

  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.

Fish

v. t.
  1. To catch; to draw out or up; as, to fish up an anchor.
  2. To search by raking or sweeping.
  3. To try with a fishing rod; to catch fish in; as, to fish a stream.
  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.

Phrases & Compounds
To fish the anchor
See under Anchor.