any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
(loosely) any of various aquatic animals.
the flesh of fishes used as food.
Astronomy, Astrology. Fishes, the constellation or sign of Pisces.
Informal. a person.
an odd fish; a poor fish.
a long strip of wood, iron, etc., used to strengthen a mast, joint, etc.
Cards Slang. an incompetent player whose incompetence can be exploited.
Slang. a dollar.
He sold the car for 500 fish.
Slang.
a new prison inmate.
a high school or college freshman; frosh.
to catch or attempt to catch (any species of fish or the like).
to try to catch fish in (a stream, lake, etc.).
Let's fish the creek.
to draw, as by fishing (often followed by up orout ).
He fished a coin out of his pocket for the boy.
to search through, as by fishing.
Nautical.
to secure (an anchor) by raising the flukes.
to reinforce (a mast or other spar) by fastening a spar, batten, metal bar, or the like, lengthwise over a weak place.
to catch or attempt to catch fish, as by angling or drawing a net.
to search carefully.
He fished through all his pockets but his wallet was gone.
to seek to obtain something indirectly or by artifice.
to fish for compliments; to fish for information.
to search for or attempt to catch onto something under water, in mud, etc., by the use of a dredge, rake, hook, or the like.
to attempt to recover detached tools or other loose objects from an oil or gas well.
fish in troubled waters, to take advantage of troubled or uncertain conditions for personal profit.
fish or cut bait, to choose a definite course of action, especially to decide whether to participate in or retreat from an activity.
other fish to fry, other matters requiring attention.
When it was time to act, they had other fish to fry.
drink like a fish, to drink alcoholic beverages to excess.
Nobody invites him out because he drinks like a fish.
fish out of water, a person out of their proper or accustomed environment.
He felt like a fish out of water in an academic atmosphere.
neither fish nor fowl, having no specific character or conviction; neither one nor the other.
any of a large group of cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates having jaws, gills, and usually fins and a skin covered in scales: includes the sharks and rays (class Chondrichthyes : cartilaginous fishes ) and the teleosts, lungfish, etc (class Osteichthyes : bony fishes )
( in combination )
fishpond
any of various similar but jawless vertebrates, such as the hagfish and lamprey
(not in technical use) any of various aquatic invertebrates, such as the cuttlefish, jellyfish, and crayfish
the flesh of fish used as food
informal a person of little emotion or intelligence
a poor fish
short for fishplate
Also called: tin fish. an informal word for torpedo
an awkward situation; mess
to drink (esp alcohol) to excess
to have other activities to do, esp more important ones
out of one's usual place
to discriminate unfairly between people
neither this nor that
(intr) to attempt to catch fish, as with a line and hook or with nets, traps, etc
(tr) to fish in (a particular area of water)
to search (a body of water) for something or to search for something, esp in a body of water
to seek something indirectly
to fish for compliments
What else does fish mean? Fish, appearing especially in the phrase fresh fish, is prison slang for new, first-time inmates, usually considered naive and vulnerable. Fish, often appearing in the form of fishy or the phrase serving fish, is also slang in drag culture for a very feminine drag queen. Content warning: this article contains references to sexual and sexist content.
First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English fis(c)h, fyssh, Old English fisc; cognate with Dutch vis, German Fisch, Old Norse fiskr, Gothic fisks; akin to Latin piscis, Irish iasc; (verb) Middle English fishen, Old English fiscian, cognate with Dutch visschen, German fischen, Old Norse fiska, Gothic fiskôn
A fish is a cold-blooded aquatic vertebrate with scales and gills, like a shark, a trout, or a pike. To fish is to try to catch a fish. Fish comes from an old German version of the Latin word for "fish," piscus, from which you might recognize the astrological sign Pisces. The word can describe either the creature or the meat from the creature. When fish is a verb, it can be used literally for the act of trying to catch a fish, or metaphorically for trying to find something, like fishing for someone's name in your memory.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pour in a dash of soy sauce or fish sauce.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
Higher consumption of olive oil, fish, and legumes was associated with increased levels of humanin.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
Steep ascents, hairpin bends and stretches of unpaved road have added to the difficulties facing this tourist town, whose visitors have unsurprisingly stopped visiting while fish sales have stalled.
From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026
The diplomats from Big Ranch have spent the past few weeks traveling around the continent, slathering it on escargot, quiches, croque monsieurs, kebabs, fish and chips, pierogies and raclette—or ranchclette.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
It’s been a long, hot day, and I know I smell just like the fish guts being picked at by the gulls.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Fish and Wildlife Service had not relied on the best scientific and commercial data available in adding the lizard to the list.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Our reader Stephen Thom said: "Fish needs to be in the Scottish Music Hall of Fame. Now he's officially retired from music maybe the first recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award?"
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
Fish and Wildlife could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Fish, mobile snails, sea urchins, and bivalves such as clams, oysters, and mussels all require faster metabolisms to support movement and, in many cases, predatory lifestyles.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
Fish jump from nearby fountains, changing from ruby to teal mid-flight, teasing onlookers.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
One can determine the pedigree of a disease, produce recombinants and detect the presence of extracellular genes using FISH.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
C.N. carried out all other parasite culturing and sample processing for Drop-seq and RNA FISH.
From Nature ● Sep. 24, 2017
Finally, a yet more sensitive test, called FISH, was done.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2012
And pop star Shakira has been attacked by a raging sea lion which thought her mobile phone was a FISH.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 14, 2012
As a Ph.D. student, he’d used HeLa to help develop something called fluorescence in situ hybridization, otherwise known as FISH, a technique for painting chromosomes with multicolored fluorescent dyes that shine bright under ultraviolet light.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
"We lost 85% of the marine prairies, and we saw the fishes on the shore looking for oxygen, and these images were horrible," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Watson, who fishes on the Dylharis, said the industry took its responsibilities seriously.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
John van Rooyen regularly surfs and spear fishes at the Tinley Manor beach, about 2 miles from where he lives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
We humans eat seven fishes on Christmas Eve, samosas on Eid al-Fitr and maple cookies behind the moon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Because just as miracles were worked with loaves and fishes, one was worked through this doll.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Jacobs fished out the long mink her grandmother left her years ago and took it to a Manhattan furrier to give it a second act.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
"No other stretch of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said, speaking to the BBC News science team while working on a research vessel off the coast of Sicily in late 2025.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
Summoned to the scene, the new police and civil defense officials who took over during the transition had fished out the bodies, which were then sent to Damascus for a forensic analysis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
"It means we have lost about half of the fishing grounds that we have traditionally fished on for decades," he said.
From BBC ● May 2, 2025
I fished the handkerchief from my pocket and tried to tie it around my upper right arm.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
The Malaysian navy is efficient at intercepting them, and pushing them back out onto the open seas, and local fishing communities will not help.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The congressional investigation flopped like a soccer player fishing to draw a red card, finally concluding in 1998.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
The businesses tied to outdoor leisure that are expected to benefit include golf courses, outdoor entertainment venues and providers of fishing charters.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Animals consistently show fear when people pose a direct lethal threat, such as through hunting or fishing.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Before he had time to act, Father Finnegan found The Way to Rio Luna next to the box of fishing wire and hooks.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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.
