fish

name

Etymology: Semantic loan from Latin Pisces.

1. The constellation and zodiacal sign Pisces.

   “The Fiſh directeth the feet: and theſe three be the ſigns of Winter.”

   “The Fish, His Church in union bound; The Lamb, once slain, but now enthroned; The Bull the victory shall gain; The Twins, Divine and human reign.”

noun

1. Acronym of fluorescent in situ hybridization, a molecular cytogenetic technique used to identify whether a DNA sample has a specific sequence.

verb

Etymology: From Old English fiscian, from Proto-West Germanic *fiskōn, from Proto-Germanic *fiskōną. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian fiskje (“to fish”), Dutch vissen (“to fish”), German fischen (“to fish”), Limburgish vésche, vèsse (“to fish”), Luxembourgish fëschen (“to fish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fiske (“to fish”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish fiska (“to fish”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍉𐌽 (fiskōn, “to fish”).

1. To hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water, or to collect coral or pearls from the bottom of the sea.

   “We went fishing for crabs by the pier.”

   “She went to the river to fish for trout.”

2. To search (a body of water) for something other than fish.

   “They fished the surrounding lakes for the dead body.”

3. To use as bait when fishing.

   “`What you need are frogs,' said the veteran. `Fish them at night. There's nothing like them on big cork floats.'”

4. To (attempt to) find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.

   “Why are you fishing through my things?”

   “He was fishing for the keys in his pocket.”

5. To talk to people in an attempt to get them to say something, or seek to obtain something by artifice.

   “The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information.”

   “The actors loitered at the door, fishing for compliments.”

6. Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it.
7. To repair (a spar or mast) by fastening a beam or other long object (often called a fish) over the damaged part (see Noun above).

   “[…] the crew were set to replacing and splicing the rigging and fishing the spars.”

8. To hoist the flukes of.

   “Found that the cause of the ship's having drifted on the night of the 19th, was from the bight of the chain span (used to fish the anchor,) having slipped between the shank and upper fluke, thereby preventing the lower fluke from opening […]”

9. To draw or guide (a wire or cable) by means of fish tape.