Dictionary

fishman en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English fisscheman; equivalent to fish + -man.

Meanings

1. A man who sells fish.
   • We arrived in the night, and all were asleep and still. But in the morning, what a Babel of sounds assailed and stunned us! There were fishmen and fishwomen in “schools”—boatmen and boatwomen—sailors, of every nation, “pulling and hauling”—artisans of every description plying the hammer and the axe—all mechanical powers in noisy operation—ponderous wagons of most thundering construction—men, women, and children yelling to the very top of their voices, to outcry each other in selling their wares. 1856, George Foxcroft Haskins, “Chapter V. — Marseilles”, in Travels in England, France, Italy, and Ireland, Boston: Donahoe, Patrick, page 29:
   • The butcher, the baker, the greengrocer, the old eggwoman, the vegetable dealer from the country, the fishman, every one who in any way purveyed to my little household, came to lay presents on the sunny engawa. 1907 April, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, “At Home—Colonel and Mrs. Vladimir von Theill”, in As The Hague Ordains: Journal of a Russian Prisoner’s Wife in Japan, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 303:
   • Fishmen and fishwomen, costermongers and other small traders, spit on their “hansel” (the first money they take); and boxers spit on their hands to make them deliver winning blows. 1899, William Thomas Fernie, Animal Simples: Approved for Modern Uses of Cure, page 412:
   • Without an exception, save ourselves, the boat was occupied by fishmen and fishwomen, returning from effecting their purchases at Billinsgate, and who availed themselves of this new mode of transit to reach the West End, without having the barriers of Fleet-street, the hills of Holborn, or the other localities which have to be traversed to reach from the city to the quarters where they had their business and connection. 1846, “Our Tattler”, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, page 175:
2. A mythic or fictional being that is part man, part fish.
   • In volume 2 Flash is transformed into one of Mongo’s fishmen in an effort to save his life! 1982 June 14, Famous Monsters of Filmland, New York: Warren Publishing, page 51, column 3:
   • “One Piece” (1997-Present), an anime in which an island by the name of Fishman Island is located at the bottom of the sea and is inhabited by mermaids and fishmen, a possible nod to Atlantis. 2014, David Chase Taylor, Greenland Theory - Apocalypse Now:
   • The loan to the Chinese legends of the Babylonian fabulous traditions of the arrival out of the water of fishmen acquainted with the art of writing, is so clear and evident that we need not insist again to make it understood. 1888, Terrien de Lacouperie, “The Fabulous Fishmen of Babylonia in Ancient Chinese Legends”, in The Babylonian and Oriental Record, London, page 224:
   • The last room in this corridor has familiar Fishmen as well as Frost Dragons In each corner. Kill the dragons on one side of the room, and let the Fishmen come to yon, so you can battle them without any distractions. 2006, Bob Anderson, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, Indianapolis: Pearson Education, page 56, column 1:
   • Despite the porno connections, it’s a fun science fiction spoof without much sex or nudity and features some pretty good (alien) fishmen who attack a bar during a wet T-shirt contest. 1996, Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide, New York: Michael J. Weldon, page 566, column 1:
   • It wore no clothes, but had the cocked hat under its arm, and seemed engaged thinking very seriously about something. Jack, with all his courage, was a little daunted; but now or never, thought he; so up he went boldly to the cogitating fish-man, took off his hat, and made his best bow. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 529:

Forms

Coordinates

piscatrix · fishwoman · fishwife · fishmongeress

Hypernyms

fishmonger (vendor) · ichthyopolist (vendor)

Relateds

Fishman