other fish to fry
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Related to other fish to fry: a pretty kettle of fish
other fish to fry
Other, more important matters to deal with. I can't worry about that now, I've got other fish to fry! I want Chris to help me with this project, but he claims he has other fish to fry right now.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
other fish to fry
Also, better or bigger fish to fry . More important matters to attend to, as in They asked me to help with the decorations, but I have other fish to fry. [Mid-1500s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
other fish to fry
Informal Other matters to attend to: He declined to come along to the movie, saying he had other fish to fry.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
fish to fry, to have better/bigger/other
To have other, more important matters to attend to. Referring to fish cookery, this term dates from the seventeenth century. “I fear he has other fish to fry,” wrote John Evelyn in his Memoirs (1660). Actually, this term also appeared in an early translation of Rabelais’s Pantagruel (1552) by Motteux, but it did not seem to catch on until later.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer