fish
$ \mathrm{fish}^1 |fiSH|
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noun (plural same or fishes)
a limbless cold-blooded vertebrate animal with gills and fins and living wholly in water:
魚, 魚類
e.g. the sea is thick with fish.
the flesh of fish as food:
魚肉, (食物としての)魚
e.g. hot crab appetizers stuffed with fish.
(the Fish or the Fishes) the zodiacal sign or constellation Pisces.
〖the Fish(es); 複数扱い〗〘天〙 うお座(Pisces)
used in names of invertebrate animals living wholly in water, e.g., cuttlefish, shellfish, jellyfish.
〖複合語で〗魚介類
with adjective informal a person who is strange in a specified way:
｟話･否定的に｠ ; 〖a ～; 修飾語を伴って〗 (…な)やつ
e.g. he is generally thought to be a bit of a cold fish.
informal a torpedo.
verb no object
catch or try to catch fish, typically by using a net or hook and line:
«…を求めて» (網などで)漁をする, 釣りをする «for»
e.g. he was fishing for bluefish
e.g. I've told the girls we've gone fishing.
with object catch or try to catch fish in (a particular body of water):
｟かたく｠ 〈川･海など〉で魚を捕る; 〈魚･カニなど〉を捕る, 釣る (!catch fishの方が普通)
e.g. they did fish the mountain streams when game grew scarce.
search, typically by groping or feeling for something concealed:
｟くだけて｠ «…から» 〈物など〉を捜し出す, 引っぱり出す(out) «from, out of»
e.g. he fished for his registration certificate and held it up to the policeman's flashlight.
try subtly or deviously to elicit a response or some information from someone:
«…がないか» (手探りで)探す(about, around) «for»
e.g. I was not fishing for compliments.
with object (fish something out) pull or take something out of water or a container:
〈物など〉を水中から引き上げる.
e.g. the body of a woman had been fished out of the river.
PHRASES
a big fish
an important or influential person:
e.g. he became a big fish in the world of politics.
a big fish in a small pond
a person seen as important and influential only within the limited scope of a small organization or group.
drink like a fish
drink excessive amounts of alcohol.
a fish out of water
a person in a completely unsuitable environment or situation.
have other (or bigger) fish to fry
have other (or more important) matters to attend to.
like shooting fish in a barrel
extremely easy:
e.g. picking cultivated berries is like shooting fish in a barrel.
neither fish nor fowl (nor good red herring)
of indefinite character and difficult to identify or classify.
there are plenty more fish in the sea
used to console someone whose romantic relationship has ended by pointing out that there are many other people with whom they may have a successful relationship in the future.
fish or cut bait
see bait.
fished out
depleted of fish:
e.g. the grayling here have hardly been fished out.
DERIVATIVES
fishlike adjective
ORIGIN
Old English fisc (as a noun denoting any animal living exclusively in water), fiscian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vis, vissen and German Fisch, fischen.
USAGE
The normal plural of fish is fish ( a shoal of fish; he caught two huge fish). The older form fishes is still used, but almost exclusively when referring to different kinds of fish ( freshwater fishes of the Great Lakes).
$ \mathrm{fish}^2 |fiSH|
noun
a flat plate of metal, wood, or another material that is fixed on a beam or across a joint in order to give additional strength, especially on a ship's damaged mast or spar as a temporary repair.
verb with object
mend or strengthen (a beam, joint, mast, etc.) with a fish.
join (rails in a railroad track) with a fishplate.
ORIGIN
early 16th century: probably from French fiche, from ficher ‘to fix’, based on Latin figere.