Fish — Defs

01 n. A counter, used in various games.

1.
A counter, used in various games.

02 n. A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water.

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.) See: Pisces
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.

03 v. i. To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish, by any means, as by angling or drawing a net.

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.” — Sir W. Scott.

04 v. t. To catch; to draw out or up; as, to fish up an anchor.

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. See: Fish

Phrases & compounds

To fish the anchor — See under Anchor.