fish

Less common meanings

5. 5
   reach in forverbintransitive

   To search for something by feeling about, as in a pocket or bag, or by dragging a river, lake or canal, in order to find it and pull it out.

   She fished in her coat pocket and pulled out a crumpled note.

   He knelt by the couch to fish for the coin that had rolled under it.

   Usagefish in or fish around in a place for the thing you want: fish in a pocket, fish for your keys.

   Similarrummage, dig, grope, root, feel

   Note

   The hand goes where the eye cannot: fish in a pocket, fish through someone's things, fish for the keys. Rummage is the close synonym, but fish keeps the picture of reaching for one particular object, not just stirring up the contents.

6. 6
   angle forverbintransitive

   To try to get people to reveal something, or to obtain something by clever, indirect means.

   Reporters love to fish for off-the-record remarks.

   He's been fishing for an invitation to the wedding all week.

   UsageUsually fish for or fish around for: fish for compliments, fish for information. It suggests mild disapproval.

   Similarangle, probe, dig

   Note

   Fishing for a compliment is a set phrase, already at home in Percy Bysshe Shelley's Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant (1820). Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant. huntington.org
   • The work was first published in 1820. gutenberg.org
   • The expression fishing for a compliment occurs in the play. gutenberg.org
7. 7
   kind of personnouncolloquialcountable

   A person of a particular kind or character, usually with a describing adjective before the noun, as in a cold fish or an odd fish.

   Her new manager is a cold fish who barely looks up from his screen.

   He's a slippery fish, so get every promise in writing.

   UsageUsually with an adjective: a cold fish (unfriendly), an odd fish, a big fish in a small pond.

   Similarcustomer, character

   Note

   The adjective carries the meaning, and a handful of pairings do most of the work: a cold fish is aloof and unemotional, an odd fish is eccentric, and a big fish is someone important, as in a big fish in a small pond.

8. 8
   card gamenoununcountable

   A card game in which players try to collect cards in pairs or sets of four by asking opponents for cards of a particular rank.

   We taught the children fish on the long car ride.

   A single deck is all you need for a game of fish.

   UsageAlso called Go Fish. Say play fish or a game of fish.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A single act of searching for or trying to get hold of something.

   After a long fish through the archives, he found the missing letter.

   She had another fish around in the drawer and found the spare key.

   Similarrummage, search, hunt, dig, root

   Note

   The searching noun follows the verb's figurative uses rather than the angler's: a fish for information, a long fish through the archives. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The noun meaning an instance of seeking something derives from the verb fish. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To use something as bait while fishing.

    Local guides fish minnows when the bass stop biting.

    She fished a bright spinner along the weed bed.

    Note

    Anglers' usage puts the bait in the object slot: fish minnows, fish a spinner, fish frogs at night, as a veteran advises in The Fisherman Who Laughed (1983). So "fish worms" means to fish with worms, not to catch them. Outside angling this reading is easy to miss, and the context of tackle and floats is what signals it. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • A veteran in The Fisherman Who Laughed advises fishing with frogs at night. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    all sea animalsnounarchaiccountable or uncountable

    Any animal that lives only in water, such as a whale or shellfish; an older, broader sense that survives in words like starfish and jellyfish.

    Early naturalists classed the whale and the porpoise alike as fish of the ocean.

    Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me.

    1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

    Note

    This is the pre-scientific sense, which sorted animals by where they live rather than by descent. Oliver Goldsmith in 1774 grudgingly let whales, limpets, tortoises and oysters stand as fishes because people called them so. In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), the narrator still insists, calling on Jonah, that the whale is a fish. In modern writing this usage reads as an error unless the older outlook is the point. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The older broad sense grouped animals by their aquatic habitat. thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
    • Goldsmith's relevant natural-history work was published in 1774. writersinspire.org
    • Goldsmith accepted whales, limpets, tortoises and oysters under the popular name fishes. en.wiktionary.org
    • Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick, first published in 1851. en.wikisource.org
    • The narrator calls the whale a fish and invokes Jonah in support. en.wikisource.org
12. 12
    suckernounslangcountable

    A person who is an easy target for cheats and swindlers, especially a weak player in poker who is easily beaten.

    The poker pro looked for a table with a few obvious fish.

    To the card sharps, the wide-eyed newcomer was an obvious fish.

    Similarsucker, mark, pigeon, patsy

    Oppositeshark

    Note

    Gamblers and con artists cast the victim as prey: the fish is the one who gets hooked and landed. It is slang used about a person, often a disparaging description, and calling someone a fish to their face is an insult. At the poker table the weak player is the fish, and the skilled player who preys on him is the shark. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Fish can be used as a non-derogatory technical term for a weaker poker player. 888poker.com
13. 13
    fasting foodnouncountable or uncountable

    An aquatic or semiaquatic animal permitted as food during the Friday and Lenten fasts, when other meat is given up.

    In parts of Michigan, Catholics still eat muskrat on Lenten Fridays, since it has long been counted as fish.

    The monks debated whether turtle counted as fish and so could be eaten on fast days.

    Oppositemeat

    Note

    Here fish is a ruling rather than a species, decided by Church authorities instead of zoologists. Because habitat counted as much as anatomy, swimmers such as the beaver could be counted as fish on fast days. Some local allowances still hold, like muskrat in parts of Michigan, and capybara remains a Lenten dish in Venezuela. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The permitted food category follows Church dietary rules rather than zoological classification. usccb.org
    • Beaver could be classified as fish for religious dietary purposes. saintjoachim.net
    • Permission to eat muskrat on days of abstinence continues in parts of Michigan. detroitcatholic.com
14. 14
    noundialectalNewfoundlandcountable or uncountable

    Cod, also called codfish.

    The merchant paid for fish by the quintal, but he offered almost nothing for the herring and caplin the boys brought in.

    He jigged a few fish off the wharf, fat cod and the first of the season, and fried them up for supper.

    Similarcod

    Note

    Newfoundland English narrows the word to a single species: there, fish on its own means cod, and other kinds are called by their own names, herring or mackerel. It works both as a mass noun, as in salting fish for market, and as a count noun, as in landing a few good fish. Outside Newfoundland and Labrador, a speaker who means cod says cod. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Newfoundland English uses fish specifically for cod, distinguishing other fish by their names. gutenberg.org
    • The geographical exclusion is too absolute: fish meaning cod is also documented in Labrador. gutenberg.org
15. 15
    thread cableverbtransitive

    To draw or guide a wire or cable through an enclosed space using a fish tape.

    She fished the coaxial cable through the conduit to the upstairs office.

    The walls were already finished, so the electrician had to fish the new cable down to the outlet box.

    Similarthread, pull, run, snake, feed

    Note

    An electrician's use, built on the old sense of reaching in to get hold of something. A fish tape is pushed through a wall cavity or conduit, the wire is attached, and the tape is pulled back. The verb takes the cable as its object and a path with through, as in fishing the cable through the conduit. It is everyday trade talk, not slang. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • A fish tape is fed through an enclosed passage, attached to wire, and pulled to draw the wire through. data.kleintools.com
16. 16
    underwater weaponnounslangcountable

    In naval slang, a torpedo: a self-propelled underwater weapon that explodes on or near its target.

    The captain ordered the crew to launch a fish at the approaching destroyer.

    Both fish ran straight and true, striking the carrier amidships.

    Similartorpedo

    Note

    Submariners' slang on both sides of the Atlantic. Richard O'Kane's Clear the Bridge (1977), on the war patrols of the U.S.S. Tang, counts the second and third fish home. John Winton's The Submariners (1999), about British boats, has a crew firing their fish in two salvoes, with torpedoes in the very same passage. The plural stays fish, and the two words sit comfortably side by side. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Richard O'Kane wrote Clear the Bridge!, first published in 1977, about the war patrols of the U.S.S. Tang. openlibrary.org
    • O'Kane's passage describes the second and third torpedoes as fish reaching their target. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Winton's The Submariners was first published in 1999 and concerns British submarines. openlibrary.org
    • The passage in The Submariners describes firing fish in two salvoes and also uses torpedoes. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    new prisonernounslangcountable or uncountable

    A newly arrived prisoner, usually one seen as vulnerable to the others.

    Veteran inmates sized up the fish before he reached his bunk.

    The older inmates watched the scared young fish shuffle into the cell block and started betting on how long he would last.

    Similarnewcomer, newbie, rookie

    Oppositeveteran

    Note

    Prison slang shares the prey picture of the swindler's mark: a new arrival is watched, judged and labeled. Michael Rathbone, writing in Gay Community News in 1986, describes a young man entering the system being looked over and called a fish. The word marks status rather than offense, and that status lasts only until the newcomer stops being new. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Michael Rathbone wrote in Gay Community News in 1986 about a young man entering prison being inspected and labeled a fish. en.wiktionary.org
18. 18
    womannounslangderogatoryuncountablepositive

    Slang for women, or for a woman seen as very feminine, used sometimes as an insult and sometimes as praise.

    A few men at the club talked loudly about the fish on the dance floor, as if the women couldn't hear them.

    When my aunt walked into the drag brunch in pearls and a silk dress, the host announced that she was the realest fish in the room.

    Note

    The same word can wound or flatter. Said by leering strangers about women in a room, it is crude. Said by friends admiring a look, it is praise, close to its use in the drag-scene sense. It usually goes without an article: total fish, pure fish. The adjective fishy belongs to the same family. Outside close company it is safest left unsaid. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The adjective fishy belongs to the same word family as fish. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    nounslangoffensivecountable or uncountable

    A drag queen or transgender woman who passes as, or closely resembles, a cisgender woman.

    When the new drag queen stepped onto the runway, someone in the crowd shouted, "She's serving fish!"

    Out of drag he was a bearded carpenter, but onstage he was such a fish that first-timers never guessed.

    Note

    A compliment from the drag scene that can also sting. Calling a queen fish praises how convincingly she resembles a cisgender woman. Some within LGBTQ communities find it problematic, because it treats conventional femininity as the measure of success. It is fine to recognize, but best used only where the speaker belongs and the praise is clearly wanted.

20. 20
    gay man (insult)nounderogatoryoffensiveJamaicacountable or uncountable

    A derogatory and offensive slang term for a gay man.

    In Jamaica, some boys called him a fish because they thought he was gay.

    She told them to stop calling her brother a fish just because he is gay.

    UsageA homophobic insult. Say gay man instead.

    Note

    A Jamaican slur, heard most openly in dancehall lyrics. David Brooks's Gangsta for Life (2007) and Skeng's "Street Cred" (2021) both use it with hostility. It is offensive and has no friendly use, unlike the double-edged slang for women. Learners should recognize it, and recognize the contempt behind it, rather than repeat it. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • The gay-man slur is Jamaican. en.wiktionary.org
    • David Brooks is the artist known as Mavado. en.wikipedia.org
    • Mavado's album Gangsta for Life was released in 2007. en.wikipedia.org
    • The album uses the slur derogatorily, in the track Touch The Road. en.wiktionary.org
    • Street Cred is performed by Skeng and dates from 2021. en.wiktionary.org
    • Street Cred uses the slur with hostility. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    miss (cricket)verbintransitive

    In cricket, of a batsman, to play at a ball passing outside off stump without making contact.

    Nervous batsmen tend to fish outside off stump early in their innings.

    He fished at the away-swinger and was nearly caught behind.

    Similarpoke, waft, flash, prod

    Oppositeleave

    Note

    A cricketing verb with a note of reproach: a batsman who fishes has reached for a ball outside off stump that could have been left alone. It usually takes at or outside off, as in fished at the away-swinger. The cost is often an edge to the keeper, so commentators use it for impatient or nervous batting. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Fishing involves reaching for a ball outside off stump. en.wikipedia.org
    • Such a stroke risks an outside edge to a catcher behind the wicket. en.wikipedia.org
22. 22
    mast supportnouncountable

    A makeshift overlapping brace, originally roughly fish-shaped, fastened lengthwise to temporarily repair or extend a ship's spar or mast.

    After the storm, the bosun fastened a fish along the damaged mast.

    When the topmast cracked in the gale, the carpenter lashed an oak fish along the break so the ship could limp into port.

    Similarsplint

    Note

    A splint for timber, whose pieces were originally cut to a rough fish shape. It is laid lengthwise over the break, overlapping it rather than butted end to end, and that overlap lets it carry the load until a proper repair. The noun and the matching verb travel together: a crew fishes a sprung spar by lashing fish along it, often in pairs. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • A fish is a wooden splint used to strengthen damaged masts or spars. gutenberg.org
    • The brace lies lengthwise across the damaged section, overlapping it as a temporary reinforcement. en.wiktionary.org
    • The corresponding verb means strengthening a sprung or weakened spar by attaching another piece. gutenberg.org
    • Fish pieces can be lashed to the spar and used in opposing pairs. gutenberg.org
23. 23
    mend a mastverbtransitive

    To repair a spar or mast by fastening a beam or other long object lengthwise over the damaged section.

    The carpenter fished the sprung mast with a stout timber lashed firmly in place.

    Before the next leg, the crew had to fish the damaged spar.

    Similarsplint, brace, reinforce, strengthen

    Note

    The verb that goes with the shipboard brace: to fish a mast is to splint it, binding a timber lengthwise over the weak section until proper repairs can be made. James Henderson's The Frigates (1970) sets a crew to "splicing the rigging and fishing the spars" after damage. In that pairing the rope is spliced and the wood is fished. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Fishing a mast means attaching a longitudinal brace over its damaged section. en.wiktionary.org
    • James Henderson wrote The Frigates, which was first published in 1970. everand.com
    • Henderson's book contains the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
    • Splice also applies to joining timber. The rope–wood distinction is valid for the objects named in this quotation, not as a general rule. en.wikipedia.org
24. 24
    anchor tacklenouncountable or uncountable

    A purchase (a tackle of ropes and blocks) used to hoist and secure a ship's anchor.

    The bosun rigged the fish to bring the anchor snug against the bow.

    Once the anchor was catted, the crew hooked on the fish and hauled its flukes up to the rail.

    Similartackle, purchase

    Note

    Here the noun is named for its job rather than its shape: it is the tackle that does the work of raising the anchor's flukes. Purchase is the sailor's word for an arrangement of rope and blocks that multiplies pulling force, so a fish is one particular purchase. It worked alongside the cat tackle, which raised the anchor first, and then brought the flukes up for stowing. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A fish is a particular purchase used for handling an anchor. en.wiktionary.org
    • In seamanship, a purchase provides mechanical advantage, including through arrangements of rope and blocks. gutenberg.org
    • Fishing raised the anchor's flukes for stowage after the cat tackle had raised the anchor to the cathead. gutenberg.org
25. 25
    moving patternnounrarecountable or uncountable

    In cellular automata, a spaceship: a finite pattern that repeats itself at a displaced position, appearing to glide across the grid.

    After a few generations, a fish emerged and glided steadily toward the grid's edge.

    His search program turned up a new fish that crawled diagonally across the grid.

    Similarspaceship

    Note

    Cellular-automata enthusiasts usually say spaceship, and fish is a rare alternative for the same thing: a pattern that travels as it repeats. The image is apt, since the shape seems to swim across the grid of Conway's Game of Life. Spaceship is still the term readers will recognize, so explain fish when you first use it. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Fish can mean a spaceship in cellular automata. en.wiktionary.org
    • A spaceship repeats its pattern at a displaced position, producing apparent travel across the Game of Life grid. playgameoflife.com
26. 26
    fortune cardnouncountable or uncountable

    The thirty-fourth card of the Lenormand cartomantic deck.

    The fish landed beside the rider, which the reader took as news about money.

    In a Lenormand spread, the fish near the anchor suggests steady finances.

    Note

    In cartomancy the card is read mainly for wealth, financial matters, abundance and independence. Like every Lenormand card, it takes its meaning from its neighbors in a spread. Beside the anchor it can suggest steady finances, and beside the rider, news about money. Readers rarely interpret it in isolation. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • Fish is card 34 of the Lenormand deck. content.schifferbooks.com
    • The card is associated with wealth, financial matters, abundance and independence. lenormandreader.com
    • Lenormand cards are interpreted in combinations. content.schifferbooks.com
    • Fish beside Anchor can suggest steady finances. learnlenormand.com
    • Fish beside Rider can suggest financial news. labyrinthos.co
    • Reading cards together is the usual Lenormand practice. divinemuses.net
27. 27
    noun

    Any of the primitive fishes that have no jaws, such as lampreys and hagfish, grouped together by older classifications.
28. 28
    noun

    Any of an extinct group of early fishes whose heads and upper bodies were covered in armored bony plates.
29. 29
    noun

    Any of an extinct group of early fishes known as acanthodians, which had sharp spines in front of their fins.
30. 30
    verb

    To raise the hooked arms of a ship's anchor up to the side of the vessel after weighing it.
31. 31
    nounobsolete

    A small token or chip used in games to count points or stand for stakes, sometimes shaped like a fish.