Fish v.¹

Pa. t. and pa. pple. fished. Forms: 1 fiscian, 3 fissen, Orm. fisskenn, 4–5 fysshe(n, fis(s)he(n, 4–6 fisch(e, fishe, (4 fihche, fyschyn), 6 fyshe, 6– fish. [OE. fiscian = OFris. fiskia, OS. fiskôn (Du. visschen), OHG. fiskôn (MHG. vischen, mod.Ger. fischen), ON. fiska (usually fiskja of differing conjugation; Sw. fiska, Da. fiske), Goth. fiskôn:—OTeut. *fiskôjan, f. *fisko-z FISH sb.¹]

  I.  intr.

  1.  To catch or try to catch fish; to use nets or other apparatus for taking fish. Const. † after, for.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxii. § 3. Ðonne ȝe fiscian willaþ.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 13297. To fisskenn affterr fisskess.

a. 1300.  K. Horn, 1136.

c. 1305.  St. Andrew, 3, in E. E. Poems (1862), 98.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 7. Pipen he coude, and fisshe, and nettes bete.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 163/1. Fyschyn, piscor.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1562), Dj b. He hath well fysht and caught a frog.

1674.  trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 107. Their way of fishing alters with the season, in the Summer usually with drag nets, between two boats, or else with spears like Tridents, but that they have more teeth.

1727.  Swift, Gulliver, III. i. 181. In the lowest Gallery I beheld some People fishing with long Angling-Rods, and others looking on.

1848.  Life Normandy (1863), I. 283. They fish for them very much in the same manner as they catch seath and lythe on the coasts of Scotland.

  b.  fig. (with reference to Mark i. 17).

1413.  Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), V. xiv. (1859), 80. Sodenly was sente doune the hooly ghoost in semblaunce of fyry tonges: these tonges were taken them as for theyr pryncipal Instrument for to fysshen with.

1552.  Latimer, Serm., vii. (1562), 125 b. Their special callyng is to fishe, to preache the worde of God, and to bryng the people from ignorance vnto the knowledge of gods word.

  c.  To fish in troubled waters: fig. to take advantage of disturbance or trouble to gain one’s end.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 102. Settle not your selfe to obey their perswasions whiche alwayes desyre your vnquietnesse, whereby they may the better fishe in the water when it is troubled, but commit your selfe to our pleasure, which vndoubtedly shall turne to your prayse, glory, and honour.

1625.  Bp. Mountagu, App. Cæsar., V. 43. They … fare full and fatt by Fishing in troubled waters.

1722.  Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. IV. 275–6. Do not you delight to fish in troubled waters; and the greater dissention amongst the people, the more is your gain?

1797.  Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1799).

  2.  To search by dredging, diving, or other means for something that is in or under water, e.g., sunken treasure, pearls, coral, etc.

1655.  F. W., in W. Fulke’s Meteors, 166. That [gold] which is found in Waters and Rivers is fished for, and is in form of little Grains: In Rocks and Mountains it is taken out by delving and digging.

1690.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 129. Renewing the former grant for fishing for silver at a wreck in the West Indies.

1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. vi. 134. A very rich Ship … lies to this day; none having attempted to fish for her, because she lies deep, and there falls in here a great high Sea.

  3.  To use artifice to obtain a thing, elicit an opinion, etc. Const. after, for.

1563–87.  Foxe, A. & M. (1684), III. 239. They both did come but to fish for some things which might make a shew that my L. Chancellor had justly kept him in prison.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 108. Pack toe soyl Italian: crosse thee seas: fish for a Kingdoom.

1638.  Of Penitential Confession, vii. (1657), 190. Serving for no other end but to fish and angle after secrets.

1752.  Fielding, Amelia, VIII. x. Made him as many bows as he would have done, had he carried off the half guinea for which he had been fishing.

1806–7.  J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (1826), III. xxiii. At the game of Commerce losing your life in fishing …… for aces.

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, iv. The first woman who fishes for him, hooks him.

1886.  Mallock, Old Order Changes, II. 217. I should have fished for you to ask me.

Mod.  To fish for a compliment.

  b.  To fish for oneself: to get all one can; to seek one’s own profit exclusively; to rely on one’s own efforts.

1647.  N. Bacon, Discourse of the Laws & Government of England, I. iii. (1682), 8. The Bishops, upon whom the Emperours began to dote as Oracles; and this raised the price of the Clergy, and taught them the way to fish for themselves.

1653.  Baxter, Chr. Concord, 117. Such men fish most for themselves.

1867.  Lady Herbert, Cradle Lands, ii. 48. The natural slowness of an oriental, his indifference to your purchasing anything if it should give him the least trouble; the way he leaves you to fish for yourself among his miscellaneous stores.

1892.  Northumb. Gloss., ‘Aa’ll gan an fish for mesel.’

  c.  Harvard College Slang (see quot. 1851): absol. to curry favour, strive to ingratiate oneself with another.

1774.  in T. Hutchinson, Diary, 10 Oct. I. 261. I see Mons. Garnier, the French Chargé, now and then. He courts me a good deal, and fishes. I fish in return; and I think neither of us meets with much luck. Whatever the present leaders of America think of a war, I am very sure the distress will be greater upon America, than upon the kingdom.

1851.  B. H. Hall, College Words and Cust., Fish. At Harvard College, to seek or gain the good-will of an instructor by flattery, caresses, kindness, or officious civilities; to curry favor…. Students speak of fishing for parts, appointments, ranks, marks, &c.

  II.  trans.

  4.  To catch or try to catch (fish); to take as fish are taken; to collect (corals, pearls) from the bottom of the sea.

1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy. Turkie, IV. vii. 118 b. The Misidan Sea: vppon the which lye also the yle & city of Ormus, where greate trade of marchandise is vsed with the Portugals: and whereas are fished great quantitie of Pearles.

1611.  Bible, Jer. xvi. 16. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shal fish them.

1667.  Hy. Oldenburg, in Phil. Trans., II. 432. Red Coral is not found, but in the Mediteranean alone, where ’tis fished from the beginning of April, till the end of July.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, v. Thou hast fished salmon a thousand times, and mightst have taken a lesson.

1865.  J. G. Bertram, The Harvest of the Sea (1873), 233. There is a period every year during which the oyster is not fished; and the reason why our English oyster-beds have not been ruined or exhausted by over fishing arises, among other causes, from there being a definite close-time assigned to the breeding of the mollusc.

  transf. and fig.  c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, V. 777. To fisshen hire, he layde out hook and lyne.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 7494. To fisshen sinful men we go.

  5.  transf. To draw or pull out of water, mud, etc.; to discover and bring out of a heap of lumber, a deep place, or the like. Also with out, up.

1632.  J. Lee, Short Survey, 29. In the North parts of this countrey, the inhabitants fish out of the bottomes of their lakes a certaine rude matter, which, with small labour and paines, and as little charges, they make very good yron, and very serviceable for mans use.

1707.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4304/1. 29 Brass Guns, lately fished up.

1727.  A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., II. l. 224. We had fished up some small Fir-trees, which we had converted into Masts and Yards.

1778.  Foote, Trip Calais, I. Wks. 1799, II. 343. My wife fished out a large piece of blue apron, upon the top of her fork.

1822.  Byron, Werner, II. i. 29.

1834.  Medwin, Angler in Wales, I. 219. But of drowning there was no fear, for the depth was not much above his knees, though it was at the imminent risk of his catching his death-a-cold, that he was fished by his disciples out of the mud!

1880.  Lomas, Alkali Trade, 200. The crystals separate rapidly during concentration, and are drawn out up the sloping sides of the pan, or ‘fished,’ and allowed to drain thoroughly.

1889.  J. K. Jerome, Three Men in Boat, v. We had to go downstairs, and fish them out of the bag.

  fig.  1652.  J. Wright, trans. Camus’ Nature’s Paradox, 10. Sometimes he fished wealth at Court, sometimes in his Government.

1886.  Edin. Rev., CLXIII. Jan., 177. [A service] either fished up from some ancient ‘use,’ or invented afresh like some of the fancy litanies we have heard of.

1889.  Spectator, 23 Nov., 712/2. Out of the vast reservoir of facts they daily accumulate, something might be fished up, say every second day, of interest to English mankind.

  b.  Naut. To fish the anchor: to draw up the flukes to the gunwale.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), To fish the Anchor, to draw up the flukes upon the ship’s side after it is catted.

1890.  W. C. Russell, Ocean Trag., I. iii. 57. They had catted, and were fishing the anchor forwards.

  absol.  1893.  R. Kipling, Many Invent., 364 (Envoy).

  c.  Coal-mining. (See quot.)

1888.  Greenwell, Gloss. Coal-trade Terms (ed. 3), 38. Fish.—To catch up a drowned clack by means of a fish-head.

  6.  To try to catch fish in (a pool, stream, etc.). (Cf. similar use of shoot, etc.) To fish out: to exhaust the fish from.

c. 1440.  Lydg., Secrees, 577.

1539.  Act 31 Hen. VIII., c. 2 § 1. Vnreasonable persones … haue … fished the said pondes … as well by night as by daie.

1676.  Cotton, Angler, II. vi. 47. Do but Fish this stream like an Artist, and peradventure a good Fish may fall to your share.

1772.  Poetry, in Ann. Reg., 224.

1838.  G. P. R. James, The Robber, ii. You are quite welcome to fish the stream from Abbot’s Mill to Harland.

1866.  Daily Tel., 5 Jan., 5/1. Rye Bay … is more fished perhaps than any piece of sea bottom in the world.

1892.  Daily News, 12 April, 2/1. Whether the Thames is over-fished, or, as the very gloomy prophets say, fished out.

  b.  transf. To search through (a receptacle, region, etc.) for (something material or immaterial).

1727.  Swift & Pope, Pref. to Miscel. Some have fished the very jakes for papers left there by men of wit.

1728.  Pope, The Dunciad, II. 101.

1865.  Masson, Rec. Brit. Philos., iv. 260. Nowhere else are the various sciences so fished for generalizations that may come together as a whole to help in forming a Philosophy.

  7.  Chiefly with out: To get by artifice or patient effort; to ascertain, elicit (a fact or opinion). Const. from, out of. Cf. L. expiscari.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, III. 1113 (1162). He that nedis most a cause out fisch.

1531.  Instr., in Elyot, Gov. (1883), Life, 72. To fish out and know in what opinion the Emperor is of us.

1541.  St. Papers Hen. VIII., I. 663. We maye fyshe out of them, whither they were procured or sent hither by any maner of meanes.

1590.  Greenwood, Collect. Sclaund. Art., B b. They … haue … commaunded certaine theire priests … to fish farther cause of accusation.

1663.  Pepys, Diary, 7 Sept. I could not fish from him, though I knew it, what was the matter.

1709.  Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xxiii. 271. Hoping by this means to have fished out money either of the king or him.

1713.  Addison, Guardian, No. 71, 2 June, ¶ 4. This fellow had an admirable knack of fishing out the secrets of his customers, as they were under his hands.

1770.  in Doran, Mann & Manners (1876), II. ix. 211. To desire a Lady to fish out of me whether I actually intended to go or not.

1866.  Mrs. H. Wood, St. Martin’s Eve, xxxii. (1874), 412. She was trying to fish out, so lady-like and candid all the while, what real business he and Georgina had at Hatherton.

  III.  8. [A new formation on the sb.] trans. To dress (land) with fish-refuse as a fertilizer. U.S.

1651.  R. Child, in Hartlib’s Leg. (1655), 36. In the North parts of New-England, where the fisher-men live, they usually fish their ground with Cods-heads.

1894.  E. Eggleston, Wild Flowers of English Speech in America, in Century Mag., XLVII. April, 851/2. In New England the peculiar mode of fertilizing learned from the Indians introduced a new verb; the first comers ‘fished’ their corn ground.