Forms: 1 fiscere, 2 fixere, 3 fiscære, 3ú4 fissar(e, -er, south. vyssare, vissere, 3–5 fisch-, fyschar(e, -er(e, (5 fecher, fychere), 4–6 fissh-, fyssher(e, (5 fysshyer, 6 fiszher), 4– fisher. [OE. fiscere, OFris. fisker, OS. fiskari (Du. visscher) = OHG. fiscâri (MHG. vischer, Ger. fischer), ON. fiskari (Sw. fiskare, Da. fisker):—OTeut. *fiskārjo-, f. *fisko-z FISH sb.1 Like other OTeut. sbs. with this suffix it has become an agent-noun related to the vb.: see -ER1.]
1. One who is employed in catching fish. Now arch.; superseded in ordinary use by FISHERMAN.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. 17. [Ðær] huntan ȝewicodon, oþþe fisceras, oþþe fuȝel[er]as.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 97. Petrus wes fixere.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 265. Hys vyssares come to hym, & so gret won of fyss hym þroȝte.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xix. 8. And mowrne shul the fissheres.
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 22. The inhabitantes [of Sumatra] are great fyshers on the sea, and haue great pleasure to take the shelle fyshe, called the Tortoyse of the sea, of which, some are of suche houdge bignes, that the shelle of one of them may suffise to make a house well able to receaue a hole famelie.
1704. Pope, Windsor Forest, 137.
| The patient fisher takes his silent stand, | |
| Intent, his angle trembling in his hand. |
1758. Binnell, Descr. Thames, 227. Fishers distinguish their Herrings into six different Sorts.
1851. Kingsley, Song.
| Three fishers went sailing away to the West, | |
| Away to the West as the sun went down; | |
| Each thought on the woman who loved him the best, | |
| And the children stood watching them out of the town. |
b. transf. and fig. (esp. after Matt. iv. 19).
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. iv. 19. Cumeð æfter me, & ic do þæt ȝyt beoð manna fisceras.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13325 (Cott.).
| Fra þis dai forth i sal þe ken | |
| For to be fissar god o men. |
1663. Cowley, Ess., etc. (1669), 133. They found them Hunters and Fishers of wild creatures, they have made them Hunters and Fishers of their Brethren.
1664. H. More, Apol., iii. § 3. Who profess myself a Fisher for Philosophers, desirous to draw them to … the Christian Faith.
2. An animal that catches fish for food.
1562. Bulleyn, Bk. Simples (1579), 78. Herones, Bitternes, [etc.]. These fowles be Fishers.
1576. Fleming, trans. Caius’ Dogs, in Arb., Garner, III. 245. The Dog called the Fisher, whereof Hector Boetheus writeth, which seeketh for fish by smelling among rock and stone.
1823. Byron, Island, IV. ii.
| There shrilly to the passing oar is heard | |
| The startled echo of the ocean bird, | |
| Who rears on its bare breast her callow brood, | |
| The feather’d fishers of the solitude. |
b. spec. The pekan or Pennant’s marten (Mustela pennanti) of North America (also fisher marten, fisher weasel). Also, the fur of this animal.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 200. He [the fisher] has a general resemblance to the martin, but is considerably larger.
1879. M. M. Backus, in Encycl. Brit., IX. 838/1. Fisher.—Size, 15 by 30 inches; overhair very fine, glossy, dark and durable, 2 inches long; fur close; tail 12 inches long, bushy, and dark. A right noble skin.
1882. Beck, Draper’s Dict., Fisher (fur). These skins are larger than sables, and the fur is longer and fuller.
1883. W. H. Flower, in Encycl. Brit., XV. 577/2. Mustela pennanti … the Pekan or Pennant’s Marten, also called Fisher Marten, though there appears to be nothing in its habits to justify the appellation.
† 3. A fishmonger. Obs.
a. 1400. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 353. No ffysshyere ne no pulter ne shal bygge ffysch ne pultrye for to aȝen selle, er þat vndren by y-ronge.
1582. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 420. Any fisher that occupieth any standinge or shoppe by the Yeld haule or thearabouts.
† 4. An implement used by tanners (see quot.).
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 350/2. The Fisher, which is an Iron with Nett-work, made from side to side of it with strong Iron Wyers, with this the Bark is taken out of the Water.
1726. Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), s.v.
5. A fishing-boat; a vessel employed in fishing.
1864. Thoreau, Cape Cod, ix. (1894), 211. We saw countless sails of mackerel fishers abroad on the deep.
6. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib., as fisher-bark, -house, -keel, -net, † -pan, -ship, -stall, -town. b. appositive (= that is a fisher, belonging to the class of fishers), as fisher-boy, -carl, -child, -folk, -girl, -people, -swain, -train, -woman. Also fisher’s coat.
1862. H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 341. The bright cascade, which gently falling hastens the passage of small *fisher-barks down to Carlskrona.
1621. Lady M. Wroth, Urania, 308. From a Run-away and poore *Fisher-boy he made me a King.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Fisher-boys, the apprentices in fishing vessels.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 212.
| So on he went, and here and there | |
| A few rough *fisher-carles there were, | |
| Launching their ordered keels to sea. | |
| Ibid., 227. | |
| The *fisher children hand in hand | |
| Over some wonder washed ashore. |
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., xxii. (1857), 481. Some of our Cromarty *fisher-folk, who were staunch on the English side, though they could not quite see the merits, had rather a different version of the business.
1888. Daily News, 18 Dec., 3/6. Here fisherboys and *fishergirls … crowd the stage.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xlvii. 162. Without the towne there were certayne *fissher houses.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 227.
| And *fisher-keel on fisher-keel | |
| The furrowed sand again did feel. |
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. XIX. i. 4. Thread, passing good for to be twisted and knit into *fisher-nets.
1890. Daily News, 15 Feb., 6/4. A black fisher-net dress trimmed … with well-imitated mimosa.
1535. Coverdale, Amos iv. 2. The dayes shall come vpon you, that ye shalbe lift vp vpon speares, and youre posterite caried awaye in *fyssher pannes.
1885. Truth, XVII. 28 May, 848/2. ‘Yo, Heave Ho!’ is also another fine sea-coast study—*fisherpeople hauling their boat through the surf.
1611. Bible, John xxi. 7. Therefore that Disciple whome Iesus loued, saith vnto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his *fishers coate vnto him, (for hee was naked) & did cast himselfe into the sea.
1614. Eng. Way to Wealth, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), III. 235. The great benefit that this business by the busses, bonadventures, or *fisher-ships, by erecting of this profitable and new trade.
1572. Nottingham Rec., IV. 145. A *fyssher stalle that Thomas Reve stans in.
1627. P. Fletcher, Apollyonists, III. xxi.
| Those *fisher-swaynes, whome by full Iordan’s wave | |
| The Sea’s great Soveraigne His art had taught, | |
| To still loud stormes when windes and waters rave, | |
| To sink their laden boats with heavenly fraught. |
1538. Leland, Itin. (1744), VII. 55. A lytle prety *Fyssher Town cawled Wyrkenton.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VII. (1703), II. 306. In Dorset-shire, the Enemy had only two little Fisher-Towns, Poole and Lyme; all the rest wad declar’d for the King.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XXII. 425.
| So, when by hollow shores the *fisher-train | |
| Sweep with their arching nets the hoary main. |
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxvi., note. The *fisher-women, on hearing what was intended, put in their claim to have some separate share in the intended honorary reward.
1863. Bates, Nat. Amazon, ix. (1864), 258. The two dusky fisherwomen marched down to their canoe.
7. Special combs.: fisher-fish (see quot.); † fisher’s berry = fish-berry; † fisher’s folly, an angler’s house in the country; fisher’s-knot, a slip knot, the ends of which lie horizontally, and will not become untied (Davies); fisher’s ring or seal = fisherman’s ring. Also FISHER-BOAT, FISHERMAN.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Fisher-fish, a species of Remora, said to be trained by the Chinese to catch turtle.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 67. Coculus indieus … called also baccæ piscatoriæ, *fisher’s berries.
1638. Brathwait, Surv. Hist., 183. As one who had taken a surfeit of the City, h’as built himselfe a new *Fishers folly in the Countrey.
1611. Markham, Countr. Content., I. x. (1668), 53. A *Fishers knot, which is your ordinary fast knots, foulded four times about, both under and above.
1737. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. ii. 331. Let it twine its own Way, and after stretching it a little, you may tie your Links together with the Fishers or Weavers Knot.
1689. Lond. Gaz., No. 2486/1. He afterwards broke the *Fishers Ring, and caused the Lead of the Bulls to be likewise broke.
