crawfish \craw"fish`\ kradd"fi^sh`, crayfish \cray"fish`\
   kr=a"fi^sh`, n.; pl. -fishes or -fish. corrupted
   fr. oe. crevis, creves, of. crevice, f. 'ecrevisse, fr.
   ohg. krebiz crab, g. krebs. see crab. the ending -fish
   arose from confusion with e. fish. zool.
   any decapod crustacean of the family astacidae 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
see also:
-fishes -fish crab astacidae cambarus cambarus pellucidus 
astacus fluviatilis 

fish \fish\ fi^sh, n. f. fiche peg, mark, fr. fisher to
   fix.
   a counter, used in various games.
   1913 webster

fish \fish\, n.; pl. fishes fi^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
see also:
fishes fish piscatorial pisces age of fishes age 
fish ball fish bar fish plate fish beam fish crow 
corvus ossifragus fish culture fish davit davit fish day 
fish duck fish fall fish garth fish glue isinglass 
fish joint fish kettle fish ladder fish line fishing line 
fish louse caligus argulus branchiura fish maw 
fish meal fish oil fish owl scotopelia ketupa 
k. ceylonensis fish pot fish pound fish slice fish slide 
fish sound fish story fish strainer fish trowel fish weir 
fish wear neither fish nor flesh neither fish nor fowl 

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
see also:
fished fishing 

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
see also:
fish fish joint to fish the anchor anchor 

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
     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
     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"
     also: fishes pl
see also:
pisces pisces the fishes angle fishes 

318 moby thesaurus words for "fish":
   c, c-note, chinook salmon, g, g-note, loch ness monster,
   sunapee trout, aerial torpedo, albacore, alevin, alewife,
   alligator gar, amber jack, anchovy, angel fish, angle, anguille,
   archerfish, argusfish, babe, bait the hook, bangalore torpedo,
   barbel, barn door skate, barracuda, basking shark, bass, benthon,
   benthos, bill, black bass, black sea bass, blackfish, bleak,
   blind fish, blue fish, blue shark, bluegill, bob, bone, bonito,
   boob, bowfin, bream, brook trout, brown trout, buck, buffalo fish,
   bullhead, burbot, butt, butterfish, candlefish, capelin, carp,
   cartwheel, catfish, caviar, cent, century, cetacean, channel bass,
   char, chimaera, chub, chump, cichlid, cinch, cisco, clam, cobia,
   cod, codfish, coelacanth, conger, conger eel, copper, crappie,
   credulous person, croaker, cull, cutlass fish, cutthroat trout,
   dace, dap, darter, devilfish, dib, dibble, dime, doctor fish,
   dogfish, dollar, dollar bill, dolphin, dorado, dragon fish, drive,
   drum, drumfish, dupe, easy mark, easy pickings, eel, eelpout,
   electric ray, fall guy, fifty cents, filefish, fin, fingerling,
   fish, fish eggs, five cents, five hundred dollars,
   five-dollar bill, five-hundred-dollar bill, five-spot, fiver,
   flame tetra, flounder, fluke, fly-fish, fool, four bits, frogskin,
   fry, game fish, gar, gig, globefish, go fishing, goatfish,
   gobe-mouches, goby, goldfish, grand, greener, greenhorn, greeny,
   grig, grilse, grouper, grunt, guddle, gudgeon, gull, gunnel,
   haddock, hake, half g, half a c, half dollar, half grand, halibut,
   herring, hippocampus, hogfish, homing torpedo, horse mackerel,
   hundred-dollar bill, innocent, iron man, jack, jacklight, jewfish,
   jig, kingfish, kipper, kippered salmon, lake trout, lamprey,
   lantern fish, leadpipe cinch, ling, loach, lung fish, mackerel,
   mako shark, man-eater, man-eating shark, manta, marine animal,
   marlin, menhaden, mill, minnow, minny, monkey, moray eel, mudfish,
   muskellunge, nekton, net, nickel, oquassa, paddlefish, panfish,
   papagallo, patsy, penny, perch, permit, pickerel, pigeon, pike,
   pike perch, pilchard, pilot fish, piranha, plaice, plankton,
   plaything, poisson, pollack, pompano, porbeagle, porgy, porpoise,
   prize sap, puffer, pushover, quarter, rainbow trout, ray, red cent,
   red herring, redfin, redfish, roach, rocket torpedo, roe,
   roosterfish, salmon, salmon trout, sap, saphead, sardine, sawbuck,
   sawfish, schlemiel, scup, sea bass, sea horse, sea monster,
   sea pig, sea serpent, sea snake, seafood, seine, sergeant fish,
   shark, shiner, shrimp, silver dollar, sitting duck, skate, skin,
   smacker, smelt, smoked herring, smolt, snapper, snook, sole,
   spar torpedo, speckled trout, spin, sponge, sprat, steelhead,
   stickleback, still-fish, stooge, striped bass, sturgeon,
   submarine torpedo, sucker, sunfish, swordfish, tarpon, ten cents,
   ten-spot, tenner, thornback ray, thousand dollars,
   thousand-dollar bill, thresher, toadfish, tope, torch,
   torpedo fish, toy, trawl, triggerfish, troll, tropical fish, trout,
   trusting soul, tuna, tunny, turbot, twenty-dollar bill,
   twenty-five cents, two bits, two-dollar bill, two-spot, veiltail,
   victim, wahoo, walleye, walleyed pike, weakfish, whale, whitefish,
   whiting, yard, yellowtail

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'.


see also:
metasyntactic variable foo 

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.  microfiche.  a microfiche file cabinet may be
        referred to as a "fish tank".
     
        jargon file
     
        1994-12-01
     
     
see also:
metasyntactic variable foo jargon file 

fish
   called _dag_ by the hebrews, a word denoting great fecundity
   gen. 9:2; num. 11:22; jonah 2:1, 10. no fish is mentioned by
   name either in the old or in the new testament. fish abounded in
   the mediterranean and in the lakes of the jordan, so that the
   hebrews were no doubt acquainted with many species. two of the
   villages on the shores of the sea of galilee derived their names
   from their fisheries, bethsaida the "house of fish" on the
   east and on the west. there is probably no other sheet of water
   in the world of equal dimensions that contains such a variety
   and profusion of fish. about thirty-seven different kinds have
   been found. some of the fishes are of a european type, such as
   the roach, the barbel, and the blenny; others are markedly
   african and tropical, such as the eel-like silurus. there was a
   regular fish-market apparently in jerusalem 2 chr. 33:14; neh.
   3:3; 12:39; zeph. 1:10, as there was a fish-gate which was
   probably contiguous to it.
   
     sidon is the oldest fishing establishment known in history.