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′erm an , a fisher; Fish′ery , the busine 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′ine .— 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, .—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, .; 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 proce 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, .; 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, .— 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, .; 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 .]