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.
“And I think we’re going to see in the next weeks and months that there’s huge numbers of birds out at this project, and likely a lot of fish out there,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 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
"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
Jefferson brings the comedy so wonderfully, of this fish out of water.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2024
Leaves me gaping like a fish out of water.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
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.
