catfish

Pluralcatfish, catfishes

Formscatfishes, catfishing, catfished

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A scaleless fish of the order Siluriformes, mostly living in fresh water and having whisker-like barbels around the mouth.

   The angler hauled a thirty-pound catfish out of the river.

   Catfish often feed at night, using their barbels to find food in murky water.

   Note

   Most likely named for the barbels that bristle around its mouth like a cat's whiskers. Other languages paired the same two ideas: West Frisian katfisk, Dutch katvis, and German Seekatze, literally "sea-cat." As with many fish names, the plural is usually just catfish, though catfishes is also correct. Sheatfish and river chicken are other names for the same animal.

2. 2
   verbslangtransitive

   To deceive someone by creating and running a fake online profile, usually to build a false relationship.

   She realized he had catfished her only after months of online messages.

   Online predators sometimes catfish teenagers by posing as classmates.

   Similardeceive, dupe, con, scam

   Note

   A slang verb so new in 2013 that Mary Pilon's article "In Te'o Story, Deception Ripped From the Screen" still pauses to explain what "getting catfished" means. The passive with get puts the victim at the center. The active verb takes a person as its object, as in Community's "He's catfishing you." It suits casual speech; formal writing usually describes the deception plainly.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A person who sets up a false profile on social media in order to deceive others.

   Police arrested the catfish after tracing the fake profile to his apartment.

   A clever catfish can keep a victim believing the relationship for years.

   Similarimpostor, fraud, scammer

   Note

   The internet meaning comes from Catfish, a 2010 documentary. Its title supposedly drew on a fishermen's practice: they kept stored cod lively by packing them in with catfish that nipped at their tails. The fish that keeps others on edge became the person behind a fake profile. Catfisher means the same thing and cannot be mistaken for the animal.

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The meat of the scaleless, barbeled fish, popular in the Southern United States and Central Europe.

   The restaurant serves blackened catfish with a side of rice.

   In many Southern kitchens, catfish is dredged in cornmeal and deep-fried.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A false online profile created to deceive others into believing it represents a real person.

   The dating app removed the catfish after several users reported it.

   What looked like a real account was actually a catfish run by a scammer.

   Similarfake

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To go fishing specifically for catfish, typically in rivers, lakes, and muddy ponds.

   Locals catfish along the muddy banks after dark.

   He spent the whole morning catfishing from his small boat.

   Note

   The angler's verb, often met in its -ing form: a rod for catfishing, a morning spent catfishing. It takes no object, since you simply go and catfish. Keep that in mind, because the online-deception verb is spelled identically and does take an object. "He catfished all summer" and "he catfished her" belong to two different words with two different histories.

Showing meanings only. Show all 6