fish for
Idioms-
Try to obtain something through artifice or indirectly. For example, He was always fishing for compliments , or, as William Makepeace Thackeray put it in Vanity Fair (1848): “The first woman who fishes for him, hooks him.” [Mid-1500s]
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Search for something, as in I've fished for it in all the drawers . [First half of 1700s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As a result, these waters have been too dangerous to fish for months.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
After tracking each fish for its entire life, the team grouped them by lifespan and then looked back to identify when behavioral differences first appeared.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2026
He said Beckstrom loved to hunt and fish for bass and bluegill and ride four-wheelers on trails through the mountains.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2025
The chimp she later named David Graybeard had been using the stalk to fish for the bugs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025
“No,” I answered, “I do not fish for carp. It is bad luck.”
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
