Library / English Dictionary

FISH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: fishes   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills

Example:

in the living room there was a tank of colorful fish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("fish" is a kind of...):

aquatic vertebrate (animal living wholly or chiefly in or on water)

Meronyms (parts of "fish"):

fishbone (a bone of a fish)

caudal fin; tail fin (the tail of fishes and some other aquatic vertebrates)

fin (organ of locomotion and balance in fishes and some other aquatic animals)

lateral line; lateral line organ (sense organs of fish and amphibians; believed to detect pressure changes in the water)

milt (seminal fluid produced by male fish)

roe (eggs of female fish)

fish scale (scale of the kind that covers the bodies of fish)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fish"):

A. testudineus; Anabas testudineus; climbing perch (a small perch of India whose gills are modified to allow it to breathe air; has spiny pectoral fins that enable it to travel on land)

bony fish (any fish of the class Osteichthyes)

northern snakehead (a voracious freshwater fish that is native to northeastern China; can use fin to walk and can survive out of water for three days; a threat to American populations of fish)

spawner (a female fish at spawning time)

mouthbreeder (any of various fishes that carry their eggs and their young in their mouths)

young fish (a fish that is young)

rough fish (any fish useless for food or sport or even as bait)

food fish (any fish used for food by human beings)

game fish; sport fish (any fish providing sport for the angler)

fingerling (a young or small fish)

cartilaginous fish; chondrichthian (fishes in which the skeleton may be calcified but not ossified)

bottom lurkers (a fish that lurks on the bottom of a body of water)

bottom-dweller; bottom-feeder (a fish that lives and feeds on the bottom of a body of water)

Holonyms ("fish" is a member of...):

Pisces (a group of vertebrates comprising both cartilaginous and bony fishes and sometimes including the jawless vertebrates; not used technically)

school; shoal (a large group of fish)

Derivation:

fish (catch or try to catch fish or shellfish)

fish (seek indirectly)

fishy (of or relating to or resembling fish)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The flesh of fish used as food

Example:

they have a chef who specializes in fish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("fish" is a kind of...):

food; solid food (any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fish"):

smelt (small cold-water silvery fish; migrate between salt and fresh water)

shad (bony flesh of herring-like fish usually caught during their migration to fresh water for spawning; especially of Atlantic coast)

salmon (flesh of any of various marine or freshwater fish of the family Salmonidae)

rock salmon (any of several coarse fishes (such as dogfish or wolffish) when used as food)

trout (flesh of any of several primarily freshwater game and food fishes)

hake (the lean flesh of a fish similar to cod)

haddock (lean white flesh of fish similar to but smaller than cod; usually baked or poached or as fillets sauteed or fried)

schrod; scrod (flesh of young Atlantic cod weighing up to 2 pounds; also young haddock and pollock; often broiled)

alewife (flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streams)

gray mullet; grey mullet; mullet (highly valued lean flesh of marine or freshwater mullet)

eel (the fatty flesh of eel; an elongate fish found in fresh water in Europe and America; large eels are usually smoked or pickled)

anchovy (tiny fishes usually canned or salted; used for hors d'oeuvres or as seasoning in sauces)

stockfish (fish cured by being split and air-dried without salt)

panfish (any of numerous small food fishes; especially those caught with hook and line and not available on the market)

Derivation:

fish (catch or try to catch fish or shellfish)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The twelfth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about February 19 to March 20

Synonyms:

Fish; Pisces; Pisces the Fishes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

house; mansion; planetary house; sign; sign of the zodiac; star sign ((astrology) one of 12 equal areas into which the zodiac is divided)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Pisces

Synonyms:

Fish; Pisces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Fish" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Domain category:

astrology; star divination (a pseudoscience claiming divination by the positions of the planets and sun and moon)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Catch or try to catch fish or shellfish

Example:

I like to go fishing on weekends

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "fish" is one way to...):

catch; grab; take hold of (take hold of so as to seize or restrain or stop the motion of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fish"):

prawn (fish for prawns)

still-fish (fish with the line and bait resting still or stationary in the water)

trawl (fish with trawlers)

shark (hunt shark)

net fish (fish with nets)

shrimp (fish for shrimp)

angle (fish with a hook)

brail (haul fish aboard with brails)

rail (fish with a handline over the rails of a boat)

scallop; scollop (fish for scallops)

seine (fish with a seine; catch fish with a seine)

crab (fish for crab)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

The men fish the area for animals

The men fish for animals in the area

Derivation:

fish (any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills)

fish (the flesh of fish used as food)

fisher (someone whose occupation is catching fish)

fishery (a workplace where fish are caught and processed and sold)

fishing (the act of someone who fishes as a diversion)

fishing (the occupation of catching fish for a living)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Seek indirectly

Example:

fish for compliments

Synonyms:

angle; fish

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "fish" is one way to...):

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

fish (any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Other important factors for fish diversity are climate stability and the availability of nutrients from fruits, branches and leaves that fall from nearby trees.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And I took with me meat and fish, and the lash-marks of Ivan, and I found Kamo-tah no longer groaning, but dead.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The offshore reefs provide habitat and feeding grounds for large numbers of fish, including top predators such as sharks and groupers.

(Microbes reflect the health of coral reefs, National Science Foundation)

The fish move easily through the river, they're ornamental fish, but they're part of the food chain.

(Report unveils 381 new plant and animal species in Amazon, Agência Brasil)

It was the end of the day, and Moti was coming home from the fishing.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A zebrafish line established from a group of 25 crosses between individual AB and Tubingen fish.

(AB/Tubingen Zebrafish, NCI Thesaurus)

A few fishing vessels alone specked the water, and now and then the gentle breeze wafted the sound of voices as the fishermen called to one another.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Most pharyngeal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas (cancer that begins in thin, flat cells that look like fish scales).

(Pharyngeal cancer, NCI Dictionary)

An organ behind the lower part of the stomach that is the shape of a fish and about the size of a hand.

(Pancreas, NCI Thesaurus)