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.
Parents may now be forced to choose between prison time and helping Hong Kong authorities fish for evidence to bring national-security charges against their children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 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
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 ● Dec. 29, 2025
Since they’re right by the river, in between church services, they also learn how to kayak and fish for bass.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
That evening I ate grilled fish for supper, tender and delicious with the smoky tang of the open fire, and it brought back the happiest times of my life.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
