fish out
Britishverb
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Also, fish up . Discover and retrieve something from a pile or store. For example, She finally fished out the right letter from the files , or He fished up a scandal for the paper to run in the early edition . This usage likens pulling fish from the sea to finding something. [Mid-1600s]
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Deplete the fish in a body of water by fishing, as in This stream is completely fished out .
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.
I felt like a fish out of water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
“The main things that are going to kill and stress these fish out are either low amounts of oxygen in the water or rapid changes in temperature,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2025
And we scoop trillions of fish out of the water indiscriminately in large nets who are left to die slowly by asphyxiation.
From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2024
"I do feel like a fish out of water. The knock-on effects has been massive. I'm just riding the wave of it really," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024
She lies on the sand, gasping like a fish out of water.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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.
