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.
Fish is used adjectively or as part of a compound word; as, fish line,
fish pole, fish spear, fish-bellied.
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
(Zoˆl.), 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 (Zoˆl.), 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 (Zoˆl.), any crustacean parasitic on fishes, esp. the
parasitic Copepoda, belonging to Caligus, Argulus, and other related
genera. See Branchiura. -- Fish maw (Zoˆl.), 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 (Zoˆl.), 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 wear, a weir set in a stream, for
catching fish. -- Neither fish nor flesh (Fig.), neither one thing nor
the other.
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.
2. To seek to obtain by artifice, or indirectly to seek to draw forth;
as, to fish for compliments.
Any other fishing question.
Sir W. Scott.
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.