fiscal 
public office nr treasury, or of any business enterprise or 
(Inn, etr.. arc nuule up, uml tin- books balanced. 
During the /!(( i/r<>f rending. I line :<0, 1384. tin- total ex- 
pense of the Diplomatic and Consular service was nomi- 
nally *l,-2Ss.:i.v..->. K. .-irliuiili-r, Anier. Diplomacy, p. 17. 
II. it. If. Revenue; the income of a sover- 
eign or st;ilr. 
\\arcanm.t he l.im; maintained h.v til.' ordinary ftieal 
and receipt. Baeon. 
2. In sonic countries, a treasurer or minister 
of finance. 3. In Spain and Portugal, the 
king's solicitor or attorney-general. 
The ritcnl is of an aetive, enterprlalnjr genius. 
//. XirinliarHe, Travels through Spain, xlii. 
4. A public prosecutor. In Scotland he isalso called 
procurator-fiscal. In the Dutch colonies in America the olll- 
, er who actVd as sheriff and public prosecutor and carried 
uit the customs regulations of the Dutch West India Com- 
pany as called Hjixcal, or tchont fixcael (fiscal sheriff). 
our gnan!ian-ani:el shall then be fiscal and accuser, call- 
ing for Divine justice against us. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 369. 
I dinna ken what's to be the upshot o 1 a' this, and I'm no 
fjoing to be cross-questioned before the Fiscal. 
W. Black, In Far Lochaber, xx. 
5. An African shrike, as Lanius or Fiscus col- 
lar is. 
fischerite (tish'er-it), . [< Fischer + 4fc*.] A 
hydrous phosphate of aluminium occurring in 
small prismatic crystals of a green color : found 
at Nijni Tagilsk in the Ural. 
flscUS (fls'kus), n. [L. : see fisc.~] 1. A fisc. 
He that wishes the fiscus empty, and that all the reve- 
nues of the crown were in his counting-house, cannot he 
punished by the laws. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 677. 
2. [cap.'] [NL.] The genus which contains the 
fiscals. Bonaparte, 1853. See fiscal, ., 5. 
fiseH (fis), . [< ME. fise, fyse; = Sw. D&n.fis; 
from the verb represented by Icel. fisa, break 
wind: seed's* 2 .] A breaking wind. 
fise 2 (fis), n. [Also written fice,fyce, phyce (the 
origin beingforgotten); abbr.of^se-doi/.] Same 
as fise-dog. 
fise-dog (fis'dog), n. [Also written fee-dog; < 
fise 1 (or fist'* reduced to fise before the follow- 
ing d) + dog. Cf. fisting-hound, of the same 
sense.] A small spaniel or other pet dog. 
fiseget, . An obsolete form of visage. 
fisetin (fi-se'tin), n. In chi-m., a yellow crys- 
talline coloring matter to which the formula 
C 15 H 10 O 6 has been given, obtained from the 
Khiig cotinus, or Hungarian fustic. 
fisgig, n. See fizgig 1 . 
fish 1 (fish), n. ; pi. fishes (fish'ez). (The singu- 
lar form is generally used for the plural in a 
collective sense.) [< ME.fisch,fissh,fiss,fisc, < 
AS. fisc (pi. fiscus, sometimes transposed .jixas) 
= OS. JUK ='OFries. fisk = D. rise/I = OHG. fisc, 
MHG. visch, Qr.fisch = loel.fiskr = Sw. Da.n.fisk 
= Goth, finks = W. pysg = Ir. and Gael, iasg, 
Olr. iasc (with reg. apheresis of p) = L. piscis 
( > It. peace = Sp. pee = Pg. peixe = Pr. pesc 
= OF. pels, also (dim.) peisson, poisson, F. pots- 
son), fish.] 1. A vertebrate which has gills and 
fins adapting it for living in the water. In this 
sense the word has been ami is still largely used as the 
equivalent of the former extensive class Pisces, including 
the leptocardians, myzonts, and selachians, as well as true 
Pi-sees. But the differences between these several types 
of structure are so great that the leptocardians and my- 
zonts have been each contrasted with all remaining verte- 
brates. 
"Trewlie," quath the frere, " a fol y the holde ! 
Thou woldest not weten thy fote & woldest fich kacchen. " 
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 405. 
3d Fish. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 
1st Fish. Why, as men do a-land ; the great ones eat up 
the little ones. Shak., Pericles, ii. 1. 
The fish was adopted by the early Church as its sacred 
symbol because the Greek word for fish, which contains 
the initial letters of the name and titles of Christ, contains 
also the initial letters of some prophetic Hues ascribed to 
the Sibyl of Erythra. Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 400. 
2. In zoiil. : (a) Any branchiferous vertebrate 
with a complete cranium and a lyriform shoul- 
der-girdle. In this sense, the leptocardians and myzonts 
are excluded, but the selachians are included with true 
Pisces, (ft) A branehiferous or teleostomous ver- 
tebrate with dermal plates or membrane-bones 
superadded to the primordial cranium and 
shoulder-girdle, and with the branchire free 
outwardly. The sturgeons as well as all the 
osseous fishes are included in the group thus 
defined. 3. In popular language, any animal 
that lives entirely in the water; a swimming 
as distinguished from a flying or walking ani- 
mal, including cetaceous mammals, batrachi- 
ans, mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms, as 
well as fishes proper: commonly distinguished 
by some specifying word, as blaok/te*, shell- 
fish, starts)/. See these uml other compounds. 
2235 
Skeleton of Fish (Perch). 
IT, intermaxillaries ; l>, nasal region; c, dentary bone of mandible ; 
d, orbit of eye; e, supraoccipital crest; f, preoperculum ; g, f , verte- 
hr.il column ; h, pectoral fin; i, ventral fin; k, first dorsal fin; /, 
second dorsal fin ; m, anal fin ; n, n, caudal fin, making :i homocer- 
cal tail. 
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our 
likeness : and let them have dominion over the fish of the 
sea, and over the fowl of the air. lien. i. 'M. 
4. The meat of a fish or of fishes used as food. 
[In this sense there is no plural.] 
Jesus . . . taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish like- 
wise. John xxi. 13. 
Either at flesh or fish, 
A table full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish. 
Shak., C. of E., iii. 1. 
5. The codfish : so called specifically by Cape 
Cod and Cape Ann fishermen, in distinction 
from fish of other kinds, as mackerel, herring, 
etc. [U. S.] 6. The zodiacal sign Pisces. 
Now dauncen lusty Venus children dere, 
For in theyi*A her [their] lady sat fill hye. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 265. 
7. Xuut. : (a) A purchase used to raise the 
flukes of an anchor up to the bill-board. Also 
called a fish-tackle. (6) A long piece of timber 
or iron used to strengthen a mast or a yard 
when sprung. 8. In joinery, etc., a piece se- 
cured alongside of another to strengthen or 
stiffen it. A big deck of flsh, a large fare or catch of 
flsh. [Prince Edward island.] A cool, a strange, an 
odd, or a queer flsh, a whimsical, odd, or eccentric per- 
son. [Colloq. J A loose flsh, a pel-sou of irregular habits. 
[Colloq.] Angler's fish, fish that are angled for; game- 
fish, as salmon, trout, bass, pike, pickerel, etc. A pretty 
kettle of flsh. Seeitefc. Bait-fish, (o) Fish used for 
bait, as the herring, alewife, caplin, sand-lance, smelt, 
minnow, and other small flsh. Squids, clams, etc., are also 
included. (6) Fish that are or may be caught with bait. 
Bank fish, fishes caught on the Banks of Newfound- 
land : distinguished from shore fish. Boneless flsh, flsh 
as cod, pollack, hake, or cusk salted and sliced for the 
market with bones and skins removed : a trade-term. 
Bony fish. Same as osseous fish. Bottom-fish, fishes 
which live and feed on the bottom, as halibut, flounders, 
etc. Brackish-water flsh, fishes living at the con- 
fluence of fresh and salt water. Broken fish, in New- 
foundland, the third quality of cured codfish, usually re- 
served for home consumption. Bunch-fish, small fishes 
sold In bunches. They include white and yellow perch, 
catfish, pickerel, suckers, several species of Centrarchidce, 
etc. [U. S.] Cartilaginous fish, any flsh whose skele- 
ton is entirely or partly cartilaginous, as the lampreys, sela- 
chians, and sturgeons. Seecutunder^lcij(p>wfr. Christ- 
mas flsh. SeeCArirfmrts. Clip-fish, codfish salted and 
dried in the same manner as the Newfoundland shore- 
cured cod. Also Hip-fish. Coarse fish, a commercial 
name for all kinds of fishes except whiteflsh and trout. 
[Western U. S. ] Cold-blooded flsh, the true flsh ; those 
fishes that breathe through gills under water, as distin- 
guished from the warm-blooded fish, or cetaceans. Com- 
missioner of Flsh and Fisheries. See commissioner. 
Cooked flsh, menhaden steamed in the process of extract- 
ing the oil. Deep-sea fish, llshcs living at more or less 
great depths in the sea : thus distinguished from shore 
and pelagic Jish. Emperor-fish. See emperor. Flsh 
and potash-salts, a mixture of fish-scrap with German 
potasn-salts, used as a fertilizer. The potash supplies that 
quality of a complete fertilizer which is lacking in the flsh. 
Fish Commission. SeecommwutYmi. Fish day. See 
fish-day. Flat-soled flsh, in ship-carp., a flsh of which 
the faying surface is made flat. Fincham, Ship-Building, 
iv. 64. Foul fish. See/ou/i. Fresh- water flsh, fishes 
living in fresh water. Hard flsh, prime or first-quality 
fish: distinguished from soft fish, as the whiteflsh, inus- 
calonge, and catfish. [Great Lakes, U. S.] Mid- water 
flsh, fishes which do not school at the surface nor feed on 
the bottom, but usually swim about midway between the 
bottom and the surface, as the weakflsh. Mucous fish, 
the hags or myxinoids. Order of the Fish, a decoration 
founded by the Mogul emperors in India, and conferred 
upon certain English statesmen in the early part of the 
nineteenth century. The insignia are of the nature of stan- 
dards borne before the person upon whom the order is 
conferred. Osseous flsh. () A teleost or teleostean flsh ; 
one of the Teleaxtei. (It) Fish having a more or less ossified 
skeleton : thus distinguished from cartilaginous fish. See 
cut under Ksox. Pelagic flsh, a flsh of the high sea or 
open ocean. Ripe flsh, flsh about to spawn or milt; a 
spawner or milter; a ro-fish. Rough flsh, any flsh ex- 
cept whiteflsh : a commercial name. [Western U. S.] See 
coarse fixh. Round flsh, undressed flsh. as cod. St. 
George's flsh, the common starfish, Asterias vulyaris. 
Stimpson. Sea-fish, fishes living in the sea or in salt 
water. Shore fish. () Fish taken in-shore, as cod, pol- 
lack, hake, and haddock. [Gloucester, Massachusetts, 
U.S.] (6) Inichlh., a flsh inhabiting the sea near the 
shore and in water of moderate depth: thus contrasting 
withdeep-seafishtmdpelagicfish. Soft flsh. (n)A fisher- 
men's name for certain flsh, as the herring, menhaden, and 
smelt, (h) The squid or cuttlefish. [Rhode Island, U. S.] 
Sow fish, a female flsh when noticeably larger than the 
male. U". S.J Spent fish, a flsh which has lately spawn- 
fish 
ed or milted. Surface-flsh. any flsh nhi.-h habitually 
swims "high, "or neartbe surface of the water, often mak- 
ing a ripple as it goes. The menhaden is an example. 
To be neither fish nor flesh, <>r neither flsh, flesh, 
nor fowl, to be neither one thing nor another ; be a non- 
descript: sometimes contemptuously said of a waverer or 
trimmer who belongs to no party or sect. 
Damned neuters, in their middle way of steering, 
.i;r lu'itln'r Mi, iwr iifsli, nor good red-herring. 
l>ri/ilen, Duke of Guise, Epil. 
To have other flsh to fry, to have other occupations or 
other objects which require the attention, [t'olloq. | 
"I've got other things in hand. I've other I've 
well, let us be vulgar," she cried, with a wild little laugh, 
"I've got other fish to fry." 
Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xliv. 
Trawl-fish, fish which arc or may be caught on trawls, 
as the cod. [Gloucester, Massachusetts, V. S.] Warm- 
blooded flsh, any mammiferous marine animal, as a 
cetacean. Wnite flsh, a collective name for cod, had- 
dock, hake, ling, pollack, sole, turbot, plaice, halibut, and 
whiting. (Eng.j See also whitefith. 
fish 1 (fish), f. [< ME. fischen, fisshen, fissen, 
< AS. fiscian = OS. fiskon = OFries. fiskia = 
D. visschen = MLG. vischen = OHG. fiscdii, 
MHG. vischen, G. fischen = Icel. fi/ttfa = Sw. 
fisJca = Dan. fiske = Goth, fiskon, fish ; = L.. 
piscari, fish; from the noun.] I. iiitratis. 1. To 
catch or attempt to catch fish ; be employed in 
taking fish by any means, as by angling or draw- 
ing nets. 
Peter fisched for his fode ami his felawe Andrewe ; 
Some thei solde and some thei sothe [boiled], and so thei 
lyued bothe. Piers Plowman (B), xv. 287. 
He ys a fole afore the nette that/i//ie. 
Buoke. of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 83. 
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king. 
Shak., Hamlet, iv. :i. 
2. To be arranged or adjusted so as to catch 
fish ; be capable of catching fish : as, the net 
or pound is fishing ; the net was set, but was 
not fishing; the net fishes seven feet (that is, 
seven feet deep) TO flsh broad, to fish beyond the 
three-mile limit, as a schooner that is, beyond the limit 
inside of which it is unlawful to fish according to the 
treaty of 1818 between England and the United States. 
See fishery. 
But tile majority [of mackerel-men] sailed past the Nova 
Scotia coast, through the Gut of Canso, and spent the late 
summer in the Bay of St. Lawrence, fishing broad. 
N. A. Rev., CXLII. 2'22. 
To flsh for, to attempt or seek to obtain by artifice, or in- 
directly to seek to draw forth : as, to fithfor compliments. 
To fish too big, to use an artificial fly too large for the 
flsh intended to be taken with it. 
Generally the chances are that the error made by fish- 
ermen is fishing too big. Quarterly JteD., CXXVI. S4. 
II. trans. 1. To catch by means of any of the 
operations or processes of fishing: as, to fish 
minnows or lobsters. 
The actual proceeds of this year's pearl fishery in Cey- 
lon were considerably greater than had been anticipated. 
Seven millions of oysters were fished, instead of about 
three millions. 
A.Q.F. Eliot James, Indian Industries, p. 227. 
2. To attempt to catch fish in ; try with any 
apparatus for catching fish, as a rod or net. 
Black Rocke was yerely fished by three or foure hun- 
dred saile of Spaniards, Portugals, and Biskiners. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 216. 
Do but /Mi this stream like an artist, and peradventure 
a good fish may fall to your share. 
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 248. 
3. To use in or for fishing: as, gill-nets are 
fished; an oysterman fishes his boat. [Colloq.] 
4. To catch or lay hold of, in water, mud, or 
some analogous medium or position, as if by 
fishing; draw out or up; get or secure in any 
way with some difficulty or search, as if by 
angling. [Chiefly colloq.] 
[A lawsuit] as to whether the chapter can interfere at 
all if the dean . . . thinks fit to order a new one, either 
fished up from some ancient "use," or invented afresh. 
Edinburgh Rev., CLXIII. 177. 
One of the mares . . . managed to flounder into the 
very center of a mud-hole, and we spent the better part 
of a morning in fishing her out. The Century, XXX. 224. 
5. To search by dragging, raking, or sweeping. 
Some h&ve fished the very Jakes for papers left there by 
men of wit. Su-i/t. 
6. Naut.: (a) To strengthen, as a weak spar, 
by lashing one or more pieces of wood or iron 
along the weak place. 
When the ship arrived at Hampton Roads, the steam- 
launch, which stowed inboard on the starboard side, was 
hoisted out with the fished fore and the main yard, and 
no signs of giving way could be detected. 
Quoted in Luce's Seamanship, p. 501. 
(6) To hoist the flukes of, as an anchor, up to 
the bill-board. 
The anchor [was] catted and fshed. 
Ii'. T. Russell, Sailor's Sweetheart, iii. 
