fishwife en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English fysshewyfe; equivalent to fish + wife (“(obsolete) woman”) (see also midwife).
Meanings
-
(archaic) A woman who sells or works with fish; a female fishmonger.
[S]he was angry with herself; and, for that, sang the more loudly the most wicked and risqué of her slang songs, that gave the morals of a Messalina in the language of a fish-wife, and yet had an inalienable, mischievous, contagious, dauntless French grace in it withal.
1867, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “Cigarette en Bienfaitrice”, in Under Two Flags: A Story of the Household and the Desert. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 121:
- (derogatory) A vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice.
- (Geordie, derogatory) A person, especially a woman, with poor personal hygiene.
- (slang) The wife of a homosexual man.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| fishwives | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
fishman (woman who sells fish)
Deriveds
Hypernyms
fishmonger (woman who sells fish) · beard (wife of a homosexual man)
Synonyms
piscatrix (woman who sells fish) · fishmongeress (woman who sells fish) · fishwoman (woman who sells fish) · shrew (nagging woman)
Translations (19)
de Fischhändlerin (a woman who sells or works with fish) · nl viswijf (a vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice) · pt peixeira (a woman who sells or works with fish) · ro pescăreasă (a woman who sells or works with fish) · es pescadera (a woman who sells or works with fish) · gd ban-iasgair (a woman who sells or works with fish) · pl przekupka (a vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice) · fr poissarde (cf. langage de poissarde) (a vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice) · fr poissonnière (a woman who sells or works with fish) · fr poissarde (a woman who sells or works with fish) · vo fitajitedan (a woman who sells or works with fish) · gd cailleach-èisg (a woman who sells or works with fish) · pl handlarka rybami (a woman who sells or works with fish) · de Fischverkäuferin (a woman who sells or works with fish) · rup piscãroanji (a woman who sells or works with fish) · nl visvrouw (a woman who sells or works with fish) · no fiskerkone (a woman who sells or works with fish) · da fiskerkone (a woman who sells or works with fish) · gv caillagh eeast (a woman who sells or works with fish)