fish
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Related to fish: Fluorescent in situ hybridization
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fish
slang
1. An unintelligent, incompetent, or bumbling person. We thought he was going to really take charge and lead the project in exciting new directions, but he turned out to be a bit of a fish in the end. You fish! How'd you screw this report up so bad?
2. An inept or inexperienced poker player. An allusion to the term "shark," meaning a player who is very skilled and ruthless. He let them get cocky and think he was a fish for the first few hands, before taking them for all they were worth by the end of the night.
3. A newly arrived prison inmate, typically when seen as naïve to prison life. A: "Who's going to show the fresh fish to his cell?" B: "I will. Follow me, bub."
4. rude interjection A substitution for "fuck," used as an exclamation of anger, indignation, irritation, or exasperation. A: "Fish!" B: "What happened?" A: "I dropped my plate and it smashed on the ground!" The motor just burnt out on this mower again! Oh, fish!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
fish
n. a stupid and inept person. (Derogatory.) The guy’s a fish. He can’t do anything right.
fish-fight
n. a fight between females. There’s a “fish-fight” over by the biology building.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
- (as) crooked as a barrel of fish hooks
- (as) crooked as a fish hook
- (as) mute as a fish
- (old) fishwives' tale
- a big fish
- a big fish in a small pond
- a cold fish
- a different kettle of fish
- a fish out of water
- a fish story
- a fish tale
- a fishbowl
- a pretty kettle of fish
- a/the fish rots from the head down
- a/the fish stinks from the head down
- act like a cold fish
- all is fish that comes to his net
- an odd/a queer fish
- another kettle of fish
- as easy as shooting fish in a barrel
- be a cold fish
- be a different kettle of fish
- be a whole other kettle of fish
- be another kettle of fish
- be like a fish out of water
- be neither fish nor fowl
- better fish to fry
- big fish
- big fish in a small pond
- bigger fish to fry
- busy as a beaver
- catch the big fish
- cold fish
- cold fish, a
- crooked as a barrel of fish hooks
- cry stinking fish
- dead fish
- don't cry stinking fish
- dried-fish woman
- drink like a fish
- drink like a fish, to
- even a fish wouldn't get caught if he kept his mouth shut
- fine kettle of fish
- fish
- fish (someone or something) out of (something)
- fish and company smell after three days
- fish and company stink after three days
- fish and guests smell after three days
- fish and guests stink after three days
- fish around
- fish eye
- fish flakes
- fish for
- fish for (something)
- fish for a compliment
- fish for compliments
- fish in troubled waters
- fish or cut bait
- fish out
- fish out of
- fish out of water
- fish out of water, a
- fish story
- fish story, a
- fish tale
- fish to fry
- fish to fry, to have better/bigger/other
- fish up
- fish up out of
- fish up out of (something)
- fish-eating grin
- fish-fight
- fish-kiss
- fishtail
- flying fish
- get flak
- give a man a fish...
- have a memory like a goldfish
- have better fish to fry
- have bigger fish to fry
- have more important fish to fry
- have other fish to fry
- have other/bigger fish to fry
- have the memory of a goldfish
- in a fishbowl
- kettle of fish
- kettle of fish, a fine/pretty
- kissy face
- like a fish out of water
- like a fish takes to water
- like a fish to water
- like shooting fish in a barrel
- little fish are sweet
- live in a fishbowl
- make fish of one and flesh of another
- make fish of one and flesh of the other
- make fish of one and fowl of another
- make fish of one and fowl of the other
- need (something) (about) as much a fish needs a bicycle
- need (something) like a fish needs a bicycle
- neither fish nor flesh
- neither fish nor fowl
- neither fish, flesh, nor fowl
- neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring
- not the only fish in the sea
- odd fish
- one man's fish is another man's poison
- only dead fish go with the flow
- other fish to fry
- pretty kettle of fish
- queer fish
- so long, and thanks for all the fish
- swim like a fish
- take flak
- take to (something) like a fish takes to water
- take to (something) like a fish to water
- teach a man to fish
- the cat would eat fish, but would not wet her feet
- there are lots of good fish in the sea
- there are other (good) fish in the sea
- there are plenty more fish in the sea
- there are plenty of (other) fish in the sea
- There are plenty of fish in the sea
- there are plenty of good fish in the sea
- there are plenty/lots more fish in the sea
- there's always a bigger fish
- What's that got to do with the price of fish?
- you need to bait the hook to catch the fish