fish
slang
1. An unintelligent, 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? Why would you listen to that fish? He has no idea what he's doing!
2. 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. The new guy at the poker table—do you think he's a shark masquerading as a fish? My dad was a skilled poker player and taught me all he knew—he would say, "I can't have one of my kids being a fish!"
3. 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." I see we've got a few new fish in the prison yard today. Anyone know why the fresh fish is here? What's his crime?
4. rude interjection 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! A: "Oh, fish! We both know that's a lie!" B: "'Fish'?" "A: "The kids are here, so I can't say what I really want to say."
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.