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fish for

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fish for something

 

1. Lit. to try to catch a particular kind of fish. We are fishing for cod today, but we'll take whatever we get. We will fish for perch from the riverbank.

2. Fig. to seek some kind of information. You could tell the lawyer was fishing for something from the vague way she asked the questions. The telephone caller was fishing for too much information, so I hung up.

See also: fish

fish for

1. Try to obtain something through artifice or indirectly. For example, He was always fishing for compliments, or, as William Makepeace Thackeray put it in Vanity Fair (1848): "The first woman who fishes for him, hooks him." [Mid-1500s]

2. Search for something, as in I've fished for it in all the drawers. [First half of 1700s]

See also: fish

fish for

v.

To seek something by or as if by probing: I fished for my blue socks in the top drawer of the dresser. Instead of just fishing for compliments, you should try to get constructive criticism.

See also: fish