fishwife
Americannoun
plural
fishwives-
a woman who sells fish.
-
a coarse-mannered, vulgar-tongued woman.
noun
-
a woman who sells fish
-
a coarse scolding woman
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fishwife
First recorded in 1375–1425, fishwife is from the late Middle English word fisshwyf. See fish, wife
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.
If the history of the hoax is an ancient and labyrinthine city, then Young has explored every alleyway, gossiped with every fishwife, drunk in every bar in town.
From Slate • Nov. 30, 2017
Her high-profile roles have been peppered with projects like a concept album about the Pendle Witch Trials, playing Hamlet on stage - and now writing a play about a Hull fishwife.
From BBC • Oct. 25, 2017
A Canadian waitress who swears like a fishwife goes on holiday to Boracay.
From New York Times • Jun. 1, 2016
In Part 2, we turn to the story of glamorous and inaccessible Mathilde—who, we learn, was born in France, as Aurélie, her mother a fishwife in Nantes, her father a stonemason.
From The New Yorker • Nov. 2, 2015
She was growing old ungracefully, and she cried or made scenes like a fishwife.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
