Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Resembling or suggestive of fish, as in taste or odor.
- adjective Cold or expressionless.
- adjective Informal Inspiring doubt or suspicion.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Abounding in fish; inhabited by fish: as, the fishy flood.
- Like fish; having a fish-like quality: as, a fishy taste or smell.
- Extravagant, as a story; dubious or incredible, like many stories told about fishing and fishes. Compare
fish-story . - Dull and expressionless, like the eye of a fish.
- Equivocal, unsafe, or unsound, as a speculation or a course of conduct: as, a fishy venture.
- Plucky; brave; sturdy and enduring; thorough and faithful in duty: as, fishy to the backbone; a fishy man.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Consisting of fish; fishlike; having the qualities or taste of fish; abounding in fish.
- adjective colloq. Extravagant, like some stories about catching fish; improbable; also, rank or foul.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun childish Diminutive of
fish - adjective Of, from, or similar to
fish . - adjective
Suspicious ; inspiringdoubt .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of or relating to or resembling fish
- adjective not as expected
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The general odor of the man she loves, one woman states, is highly, sometimes even overwhelmingly, attractive to her; but the specific odor of the male sexual organs which she describes as fishy has no attraction.
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4 Sexual Selection In Man Havelock Ellis 1899
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In regards to Gary Coleman and his death … it smelt fishy from the beginning.
Pink is the New Blog | Everybody's Business Is My Business » Blog Archive » Les News, 060910 2010
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What's fishy is Norwood originally beat Reed by 10% and now supposedly is losing by 0.8%
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While ask for a debate in NC, she turned it down and now this .. something fishy is going on.
Clinton challenges Obama to Lincoln-Douglas style debate 2008
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Until I am given a reasonable explanation other than ‘lack of experience, empty suit’ I will think something fishy is going on with these polls. —
Giuliani to Give G.O.P. Keynote - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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Fact 7: Other people, like chunkdz, independently think something fishy is going on.
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In this volume, we accompany Snow White and her estranged sister Rose Red in a road trip to The Farm, where they discover that something very fishy is going on.
Archive 2007-05-01 2007
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In this volume, we accompany Snow White and her estranged sister Rose Red in a road trip to The Farm, where they discover that something very fishy is going on.
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We do not allow our soldiers to enter mosques to see if something fishy is going on.
Sound Politics: Darcy Burner Wants More Rights for Terrorists 2006
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One would think that something fishy is going on, but in many cases it's just plain amateurism.
English Required: 2006
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