phish
[ fish ]
/ fɪʃ /
|
verb (used without object)
to try to obtain financial or other confidential information from Internet users, typically by sending an email that looks as if it is from a legitimate organization, usually a financial institution, but contains a link to a fake website that replicates the real one.
verb (used with object)
to make (someone) a victim in this way: If you've been phished, you should cancel your credit cards immediately.
Nearby words
philtrum, phimosis, phimotic, phineas, phineus, phish, phishing, phitsanulok, phiz, phlebarteriectasia, phlebectasia
Sometimes brand spoof.
Compare vish.
Related formsphish·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for phishing
One challenge is that this isn't a virus or a hacker attack—it's just a phishing scam, an attempt to trick people.
Once a user had heard about this phishing expedition, though, they were unlikely to engage with it again.
British Dictionary definitions for phishing
phishing
/ (ˈfɪʃɪŋ) /
noun
the practice of using fraudulent e-mails and copies of legitimate websites to extract financial data from computer users for purposes of identity theft
Word Origin for phishing
C21: from fishing in the sense of catching the unwary by offering bait; computer-hacker slang often replaces f with ph
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for phishing
phishing
in the cyber scam sense, by 2000 (some sources cite usage from 1995); alteration of fishing (n.); perhaps by influence of phreak and the U.S. rock band Phish, which had been performing since 1983.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper