Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
- Pages
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- Illustrations
- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Fish, n. p. 515An animal that lives in water. 2. (Zool.) An oviparous, vertebrate animal having a covering of scales or plates, and breathing by means of gills or branchiæ, and living almost entirely in the water.…Fish, v. i. p. 515To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish, by any means, as by angling or drawing nets. 2. To seek to obtain by artifice, or indirectly to seek to draw forth; as, to fish for…Fish, v. t. p. 515To catch; to draw out or up; as, to fish up a human body when sunk; to fish an anchor. 2. To search by raking or sweeping. Swift. 3. (Naut.) To strengthen, as a mast or yard, with a piece of timber.…Fish'-bēam, n. p. 515(Mech.) A beam one of whose sides (commonly the under one) swells out like the belly of a fish. Francis.Fish'-bĕl'lied, a. p. 515Swelled out downward; as, a fish-bellied rail.Fish'-cār'ver, n. p. 515A silver knife for carving fish at a dinner-table. Simmons.Fish'-dāy, n. p. 515A day on which fish is eaten; a fast-day.Fish'er, n. p. 515One who is employed in catching fish. 2. (Zoöl.) A carnivorous quadruped of the weasel family (Mustela Canadensis); the pekan.Fish'er-man, n. p. 515One whose occupation is to catch fish. 2. (Naut.) A ship or vessel employed in the business of taking fish, as in the cod and whale fishery.Fish'er-town, n. p. 515A town inhabited by fishermen. Carew.Fish'er-y, n. p. 515The business or practice of catching fish. Addison. 2. A place for catching fish with nets or hooks.Fish'-fāg, n. p. 515A woman who sells fish. Simmonds.Fish'-flāke, n. p. 515A flake. See FLAKE.Fish'ful, a. p. 515Abounding with fish. “My fishful pond.” Cowper.Fish'-gārth, n. p. 515A dam or inclosure on the sides of rivers for preserving fishes or taking them easily. Craig.Fish'gig, n. p. 515An instrument used for striking fish at sea, consisting of a staff with barbed prongs, and a line fastened just above the prongs.Fish'-glūe, n. p. 515Isinglass.Fish'-hōōk, n. p. 515A hook for catching fish. 2. A hook with a pendant to the end of which the fish-tackle is hooked. Dana.Fish'i-fy, v. t. p. 515To change to fish. [Low.] Shak.Fish'i-ness, n. p. 515The state of being fishy.Fish'ing, p. a. p. 515Used or employed in fishery, or by fishermen; as, fishing boat; fishing tackle; fishing village.Fish'ing, n. p. 515The art or practice of catching fish. 2. A fishery. [Obs.] Spenser.Fish'ing-flȳ, n. p. 515An artificial fly for fishing.Fish'ing-frōg, n. p. 515(Ichth.) A voracious, spinous finned sea-fish of the genus Lophius; the angler.Fish'-joint, n. p. 515(Railways.) A splice consisting of one or more pieces of iron or wood bolted to the side or sides of two adjacent rails, where the head of one meets the foot of the other.Fish'-kēt'tle, n. p. 515A kettle made long for boiling fish whole.Fish'maw, n. p. 515The sound or air-bladder of a fish.Fish'-mēal, n. p. 515A meal of fish; diet on fish; abstentious diet.Fish'-mŏng'ger, n. p. 515A seller of fish; a dealer in fish.Fish'-pŏt, n. p. 515A wicker basket, sunk, with a cork float attached, for catching crabs, lobsters, &c.Fish'-rōōm, n. p. 515An apartment in a ship, between the after-hold and the spirit-room.Fish'-slīçe, n. p. 516A broad knife for dividing fish at table; a fish-trowel.Fish'-spēar, n. p. 516A spear for taking fish.Fish'-tăck'le, n. p. 516A tackle for raising an anchor to the gunwale of a ship. Totten.Fish'-tāil, a. p. 516Shaped like a fish's tail. Simmonds. Fish-tail burner, a gas jet which gives out a spreading or forked flame in the form of a fish's tail.Fish'-trow'el, n. p. 516A broad knife for serving fish at table.Fish'-wife, n. p. 516A woman that cries fish for sale.Fish'-wom'an, n. p. 516A woman who sells fish; a fish-wife.Fish'y, a. p. 516Consisting of fish; fish-like; having the qualities or taste of fish; abounding in fish; filled with fish; as, the fishy flood. Pope. 2. Extravagant, like some stories told about fish, or by…Fisk, v. i. p. 516To run about; to bestir one's self. [Obs.] He fisks abroad, and stirreth up erroneous opinions. Latimer.Fis'sile, a. p. 516Capable of being split, cleft, or divided in the direction of the grain, or of natural joints. This crystal is a pellucid, fissile stone. Newton.Fis-sĭl'i-ty, n. p. 516The quality of being fissile.Fis'sion, n. p. 516A cleaving, splitting, or breaking up into parts. 2. (Physiol.) A subdividing into two parts from the progress of natural growth, as when a cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a…Fis-sip'a-rĭsm, n. p. 516(Physiol.) Reproduction by spontaneous fission.Fĭs'si-pā'rĭ-ty, n. p. 516(Physiol.) Fissiparism. Dana.Fis-sĭp'a-rōūs, a. p. 516(Physiol.) Reproducing by spontaneous fission. See FISSION.Fĭs'sĭ-pĕd, a. p. 516(Zoöl.) Having separate or divided toes.Fis'si-pēd, n. p. 516(Zoöl.) An animal whose toes are separate, or not connected by a membrane. Browne.Fis'si-rŏs'tral, a. p. 516[Lat. fissus, p. p. of findere, to split, and rostralis, belonging to a bill, from rostrum, bill, beak; Fr. fissirostre. (Ornith.) Having a deeply-cleft bill, as swallows, goatsuckers, &c. Swainson.Fis'sūre, n. p. 516A cleft; a narrow chasm made by the parting of any substance; a longitudinal opening; as, the fissure of a rock. Fissure of Sylvius (Anat.), a deep depression or fold inward from the surface on each…Fis'sūre, v. t. p. 516To cleave; to divide; to crack or fracture. Wiseman.Fist, n. p. 516The hand with the fingers doubled into the palm; the hand closed tightly, especially as clinched for the purpose of striking a blow. Who grasp the earth and heaven with my fist. Herbert.Fĭst, v. t. p. 516To strike with the fist. Dryden. 2. To gripe with the fist. [Obs.] Shak.Fist'ic, a. p. 516Pertaining to boxing, or to encounters with the fists; pugilistic; as, fistic exploits; fistic heroes. [Colloq.]Fist'-cŭffs, n. pl. p. 516Blows, or a combat with the fists; a boxing. [Colloq.] Swift.Fis'ti-nūt, n. p. 516A pistachio-nut.Fīs'tu-ēa, n. p. 516An instrument used in driving piles; —called also monkey by the workmen.Fist'ū-lā, n. p. 516A reed; hence, a pipe; a wind-instrument of music. 2. (Surg.) A permanent, abnormal opening into the soft parts, with a constant discharge; a deep, narrow, chronic abscess; as, a salivary fistula, or…Fĭst'ū-lar, a. p. 516Hollow and cylindrical, like a pipe or reed.Fist'ū-lā'ri-ā, n. p. 516(Ichth.) A genus of acanthopterygious fishes, characterized by having the head prolonged into a slender tube, with the mouth at the extremity; — named by Linnæus.