fish for

Idioms  

1. 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]

2. Search for something, as in I've fished for it in all the drawers . [First half of 1700s]

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Example Sentences

But apparently Boaz had gefilte fish for a brain, because in spite of everything, he looked at her with the same expression he had that day in the box office.

From Literature

Great whites are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, meaning it is illegal to fish for them or to sell them.

From BBC

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

The chimp she later named David Graybeard had been using the stalk to fish for the bugs.

From Los Angeles Times

It is about "finding that balance", he continued, noting how many people still rely on animals and fish for food.

From BBC