From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
fish
n 1: any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates
usually having scales and breathing through gills; "the
shark is a large fish"; "in the livingroom there was a
tank of colorful fish"
2: the flesh of fish used as food; "in Japan most fish is eaten
raw"; "after the scare about foot-and-mouth disease a lot
of people started eating fish instead of meat"; "they have
a chef who specializes in fish"
3: (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Pisces
[syn: Pisces, Fish]
4: the twelfth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from
about February 19 to March 20 [syn: Pisces, {Pisces the
Fishes}, Fish]
v 1: seek indirectly; "fish for compliments" [syn: angle]
2: catch or try to catch fish or shellfish; "I like to go
fishing on weekends"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Crawfish \Craw"fish`\ (kr[add]"f[i^]sh`), Crayfish \Cray"fish`\
(kr[=a]"f[i^]sh`), n.; pl. -fishes or -fish. [Corrupted
fr. OE. crevis, creves, OF. crevice, F. ['e]crevisse, fr.
OHG. krebiz crab, G. krebs. See Crab. The ending -fish
arose from confusion with E. fish.] (Zool.)
Any decapod crustacean of the family {Astacid[ae]} (genera
Cambarus and Cambarus), resembling the lobster, but
smaller, and found in fresh waters. Crawfishes are esteemed
very delicate food both in Europe and America. The North
American species are numerous and mostly belong to the genus
Cambarus. The blind crawfish of the Mammoth Cave is
Cambarus pellucidus. The common European species is
Astacus fluviatilis.
Syn: crawdad, crawdaddy.
[1913 Webster]
2. tiny lobsterlike crustaceans usually boiled briefly.
Syn: crawdad, ecrevisse.
[WordNet 1.5]
3. a large edible marine crustacean having a spiny carapace
but lacking the large pincers of true lobsters.
Syn: spiny lobster, langouste, rock lobster, crayfish, sea
crawfish.
[WordNet 1.5]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Fish \Fish\ (f[i^]sh), n. [F. fiche peg, mark, fr. fisher to
fix.]
A counter, used in various games.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Fish \Fish\, n.; pl. Fishes (f[i^]sh"[e^]z), or collectively,
Fish. [OE. fisch, fisc, fis, AS. fisc; akin to D. visch,
OS. & OHG. fisk, G. fisch, Icel. fiskr, Sw. & Dan. fisk,
Goth. fisks, L. piscis, Ir. iasg. Cf. Piscatorial. In some
cases, such as fish joint, fish plate, this word has prob.
been confused with fish, fr. F. fichea peg.]
1. A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of
diverse characteristics, living in the water.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Zool.) An oviparous, vertebrate animal usually having
fins and a covering scales or plates. It breathes by means
of gills, and lives almost entirely in the water. See
Pisces.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The true fishes include the Teleostei (bony fishes),
Ganoidei, Dipnoi, and Elasmobranchii or Selachians
(sharks and skates). Formerly the leptocardia and
Marsipobranciata were also included, but these are now
generally regarded as two distinct classes, below the
fishes.
[1913 Webster]
3. pl. The twelfth sign of the zodiac; Pisces.
[1913 Webster]
4. The flesh of fish, used as food.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Naut.)
(a) A purchase used to fish the anchor.
(b) A piece of timber, somewhat in the form of a fish,
used to strengthen a mast or yard.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Fish is used adjectively or as part of a compound word;
as, fish line, fish pole, fish spear, fish-bellied.
[1913 Webster]
Age of Fishes. See under Age, n., 8.
Fish ball, fish (usually salted codfish) shared fine, mixed
with mashed potato, and made into the form of a small,
round cake. [U.S.]
Fish bar. Same as Fish plate (below).
Fish beam (Mech.), a beam one of whose sides (commonly the
under one) swells out like the belly of a fish. --Francis.
Fish crow (Zool.), a species of crow (Corvus ossifragus),
found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It feeds
largely on fish.
Fish culture, the artifical breeding and rearing of fish;
pisciculture.
Fish davit. See Davit.
Fish day, a day on which fish is eaten; a fast day.
Fish duck (Zool.), any species of merganser.
Fish fall, the tackle depending from the fish davit, used
in hauling up the anchor to the gunwale of a ship.
Fish garth, a dam or weir in a river for keeping fish or
taking them easily.
Fish glue. See Isinglass.
Fish joint, a joint formed by a plate or pair of plates
fastened upon two meeting beams, plates, etc., at their
junction; -- used largely in connecting the rails of
railroads.
Fish kettle, a long kettle for boiling fish whole.
Fish ladder, a dam with a series of steps which fish can
leap in order to ascend falls in a river.
Fish line, or Fishing line, a line made of twisted hair,
silk, etc., used in angling.
Fish louse (Zool.), any crustacean parasitic on fishes,
esp. the parasitic Copepoda, belonging to Caligus,
Argulus, and other related genera. See Branchiura.
Fish maw (Zool.), the stomach of a fish; also, the air
bladder, or sound.
Fish meal, fish desiccated and ground fine, for use in
soups, etc.
Fish oil, oil obtained from the bodies of fish and marine
animals, as whales, seals, sharks, from cods' livers, etc.
Fish owl (Zool.), a fish-eating owl of the Old World genera
Scotopelia and Ketupa, esp. a large East Indian
species (K. Ceylonensis).
Fish plate, one of the plates of a fish joint.
Fish pot, a wicker basket, sunk, with a float attached, for
catching crabs, lobsters, etc.
Fish pound, a net attached to stakes, for entrapping and
catching fish; a weir. [Local, U.S.] --Bartlett.
Fish slice, a broad knife for dividing fish at table; a
fish trowel.
Fish slide, an inclined box set in a stream at a small
fall, or ripple, to catch fish descending the current.
--Knight.
Fish sound, the air bladder of certain fishes, esp. those
that are dried and used as food, or in the arts, as for
the preparation of isinglass.
Fish story, a story which taxes credulity; an extravagant
or incredible narration. [Colloq. U.S.] --Bartlett.
Fish strainer.
(a) A metal colander, with handles, for taking fish from a
boiler.
(b) A perforated earthenware slab at the bottom of a dish,
to drain the water from a boiled fish.
Fish trowel, a fish slice.
Fish weir or Fish wear, a weir set in a stream, for
catching fish.
Neither fish nor flesh, Neither fish nor fowl (Fig.),
neither one thing nor the other.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Fish \Fish\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fished; p. pr. & vb. n.
Fishing.]
1. To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish,
by any means, as by angling or drawing a net.
[1913 Webster]
2. To seek to obtain by artifice, or indirectly to seek to
draw forth; as, to fish for compliments.
[1913 Webster]
Any other fishing question. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Fish \Fish\, v. t. [OE. fischen, fisken, fissen, AS. fiscian;
akin to G. fischen, OHG. fisc?n, Goth. fisk?n. See Fish the
animal.]
1. To catch; to draw out or up; as, to fish up an anchor.
[1913 Webster]
2. To search by raking or sweeping. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
3. To try with a fishing rod; to catch fish in; as, to fish a
stream. --Thackeray.
[1913 Webster]
4. To strengthen (a beam, mast, etc.), or unite end to end
(two timbers, railroad rails, etc.) by bolting a plank,
timber, or plate to the beam, mast, or timbers, lengthwise
on one or both sides. See Fish joint, under Fish, n.
[1913 Webster]
To fish the anchor. (Naut.) See under Anchor.
[1913 Webster]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
fish
(Adelaide University, Australia) 1. Another {metasyntactic
variable}. See foo. Derived originally from the Monty
Python skit in the middle of "The Meaning of Life" entitled
"Find the Fish".
2. <storage> microfiche. A microfiche file cabinet may be
referred to as a "fish tank".
[Jargon File]
(1994-12-01)
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
fish
n.
[Adelaide University, Australia]
1. Another metasyntactic variable. See foo. Derived originally
from the Monty Python skit in the middle of The Meaning of Life
entitled Find the Fish.
2. A pun for microfiche. A microfiche file cabinet may be referred to
as a fish tank.