fish

Related to fish: Fluorescent in situ hybridization

fish

1. slang An unitelligent, 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. slang 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. noun, slang 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. interjection, rude slang 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.

fish

n. a stupid and inept person. (Derogatory.) The guy’s a fish. He can’t do anything right.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See:
  • (as) crooked as a barrel of fish hooks
  • (as) crooked as a fish hook
  • 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 pretty kettle of fish
  • a/the fish rots from the head down
  • a/the fish stinks from the head down
  • 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 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
  • cold fish
  • cold fish, a
  • crooked as a barrel of fish hooks
  • cry stinking fish
  • don't cry stinking fish
  • 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 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
  • have bigger fish to fry
  • have more important fish to fry
  • have other fish to fry
  • have other/bigger fish to fry
  • kettle of fish
  • kettle of fish, a fine/pretty
  • like a fish out of water
  • like shooting fish in a barrel
  • make fish of one and flesh of another
  • 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
  • other fish to fry
  • pretty kettle of fish
  • queer fish
  • so long, and thanks for all the fish
  • teach a man to fish
  • the cat would eat fish, but would not wet her feet
  • 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/lots more fish in the sea
  • What's that got to do with the price of fish?
  • you need to bait the hook to catch the fish
References in classic literature
Raw fish! Shall I ever forget my sensations when I first saw my island beauty devour one.
Thus I ate poee-poee as they did; I walked about in a garb striking for its simplicity; and I reposed on a community of couches; besides doing many other things in conformity with their peculiar habits; but the farthest I ever went in the way of conformity, was on several occasions to regale myself with raw fish. These being remarkably tender, and quite small, the undertaking was not so disagreeable in the main, and after a few trials I positively began to relish them; however, I subjected them to a slight operation with a knife previously to making my repast.
Typee
'But, wife,' said the fisherman, 'how can you be king--the fish cannot make you a king?' 'Husband,' said she, 'say no more about it, but go and try!
'Well, what would she have now?' said the fish. 'Alas!' said the poor man, 'my wife wants to be king.' 'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is king already.'
Fairy Tales
When he had really caught three small fish, and said he had caught six, it used to make him quite jealous to hear a man, whom he knew for a fact had only caught one, going about telling people he had landed two dozen.
So, eventually, he made one final arrangement with himself, which he has religiously held to ever since, and that was to count each fish that he caught as ten, and to assume ten to begin with.
Three Men In A Boat
As he pulled each fish out of the net, his mouth watered with the thought of the good dinner coming, and he said:
Adventures Of Pinocchio
"Each string was of the value of thirty fish, or forty fish, but the women, who made a string a day, were given two fish each.
The Strength of the Strong
In order to convict a man of illegal fishing, it was necessary to catch him in the act with all the evidence of the crime about him--the hooks, the lines, the fish, and the man himself.
Tales of the Fish Patrol
"Salters, you pitch your fish in naow at once," he said in the tone of authority.
Captains Courageous
"Does a big fish ever break the line and get away?" inquired the politician, with respectful interest.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The only bait he could find was a bright red blossom from a flower; but he knew fishes are easy to fool if anything bright attracts their attention, so he decided to try the blossom.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
Would it stand to reason, that such a fish should live and be catched in this here little pond of water, where it’s hardly deep enough to drown a man, as you’ll find in the wide ocean, where, as every body knows that is, everybody that has followed the seas, whales and grampuses are to be seen, that are as long as one of the pine- trees on yonder mountain?”
Pioneers
Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me.
Moby Dick I LXVII
In drawing them in he again felt a great weight, so that he thought they were full of fish. But he only found a large basket full of rubbish.
Arabian Nights