Fish

Fish, fish, n. a vertebrate that lives in water, and breathes through gills: the flesh of fish: a piece of wood fixed alongside another for strengthening:—pl. Fish, or Fish′es.—v.t. to search for fish: to search by sweeping: to draw out or up: (naut.) to strengthen, as a weak spar: to hoist the flukes of: to seek to obtain by artifice.—ns. Fish′-ball, -cake, a ball of chopped fish and mashed potatoes, fried.—adj. Fish′-bell′ied, swelled out downward like the belly of a fish.—ns. Fish′-carv′er, a large flat implement for carving fish at table—also Fish′-knife, Fish′-slice, and Fish′-trow′el; Fish′-coop, a square box with a hole in its bottom, used in fishing through a hole in the ice; Fish′-creel, an angler's basket, a wicker-basket used for carrying fish; Fish′-day, a day on which fish is eaten instead of meat; Fish′er, one who fishes, or whose occupation is to catch fish: a North American carnivore—a kind of marten or sable, the pekan or wood-shock; Fish′erman, a fisher; Fish′ery, the business of catching fish: a place for catching fish; Fish′-fag, a woman who sells fish; Fish′-garth, an enclosure on a river for the preserving or taking of fish—also Fish′-weir; Fish′-god, a deity in form wholly or partly like a fish, like the Philistine Dagon; Fish′-hook, a barbed hook for catching fish.—v.t. Fish′ify (Shak.), to turn to fish.—n. Fish′iness.—adj. Fish′ing, used in fishery.—n. the art or practice of catching fish.—ns. Fish′ing-frog, the angler-fish; Fish′ing-rod, a long slender rod to which a line is fastened for angling; Fish′ing-tack′le, tackle—nets, lines, &c.—used in fishing; Fish′-joint, a joint or splice made with fish-plates; Fish′-kett′le, a long oval dish for boiling fish; Fish′-ladd′er, Fish′-way, an arrangement for enabling a fish to ascend a fall, &c.; Fish′-louse, a name widely applied to any of the Copepod crustaceans which occur as external parasites, both on fresh-water and marine fishes; Fish′-meal (Shak.), a meal of fish: abstemious diet; Fish′monger, a dealer in fish; Fish′-pack′ing, the process of packing or canning fish for the market; Fish′-plate, an iron plate fitted to the web of a rail, used in pairs, one on each side of the junction of two rails; Fish′-pond, a pond in which fish are kept; Fish′-sales′man, one who receives consignments of fish for sale by auction to retail dealers; Fish′-sauce, sauce proper to be eaten with fish, as anchovy, &c.; Fish′-scrap, fish or fish-skins from which oil or glue has been extracted; Fish′-spear, a spear or dart for striking fish; Fish′-strain′er, a metal colander for taking fish from a boiler.—adj. Fish′-tail, shaped like the tail of a fish.—ns. Fish′-torpē′do, a self-propelling torpedo; Fish′-wife, Fish′-wom′an, a woman who sells fish about the streets.—adj. Fish′y, consisting of fish: like a fish: abounding in fish: dubious, as a story: equivocal, unsafe.—ns. Bait′-fish, such fish as are used for bait, fish that may be caught with bait; Bott′om-fish, those that feed on the bottom, as halibut, &c.—Fish for, to seek to gain by cunning or indirect means; Fisherman's luck, getting wet and catching no fish; Fisherman's ring, a signet-ring with the device of St Peter fishing, used in signing papal briefs.—A queer fish, a person of odd habits; Be neither fish nor flesh, or Neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, to be neither one thing nor another, in principle, &c.; Have other fish to fry, to have something else to do, or to take up one's mind; Make fish of one and flesh (or fowl) of another, to make invidious distinctions, show undue partiality. [A.S. fisc; Ger. fisch; Ice. fiskr; L. piscis; Gr. ichthys; Gael. iasg.]