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• bottom fish
  bottom fish

  noun

  any of certain fishes that live at or near the bottom of a body of water, as certain of the cod and related species, the flatfishes, and catfishes.
• bottom-fish
  bottom-fish

  verb (used without object)

  to fish with a weighted line for fish that feed close to the bottom.

bottom fish

¹ American  

noun

1. any of certain fishes that live at or near the bottom of a body of water, as certain of the cod and related species, the flatfishes, and catfishes.

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bottom-fish ² American  

[bot-uhm-fish] / ˈbɒt əmˌfɪʃ /

verb (used without object)

1. to fish with a weighted line for fish that feed close to the bottom.

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Etymology

Origin of bottom-fish

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bottom fish bottom-fish

In a healthy Arctic system, thousands of bottom-dwelling species — bottom fish, clams, crabs and shrimp-like critters — feast on the lipid-rich algae that falls from the ice to the bottom of the sea.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2021

Retail investors may have been "trying to bottom fish and got washed out with the recent new low," he said.

From Reuters ● Apr. 14, 2015

I remember fishing Puget Sound for bottom fish when I was a child.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2013

Randy Smith, a commercial fisherman who specializes in shrimp, crab and bottom fish, said he had escaped Crescent City Harbor early on Friday after being warned that big waves were headed his way.

From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2011

There might be some danger to bottom fish in the vicinity, but I think the water would get so hot from the lava that fish would avoid it, anyway.

From The Flaming Mountain by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)

“With the commodities crash, it could be fatal if you bottom-fish too aggressively and too early.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2016

‘It’s very difficult to be a bottom-fisher at any time...With the commodities crash, it could be fatal if you bottom-fish too aggressively and too early.’

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2016

La Push and Ilwaco are also open for bottom-fish.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2013

"You have to be pretty brave to bottom-fish now in Europe," Mr. De Clue says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2012

Although never found very far from the coast, gurnards descend to depths of several hundred fathoms; and as they are bottom-fish they are caught chiefly by means of the trawl.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various