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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

have other fish to fry en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) To have more important things to do.
    • "May I ask whether you will be persuaded to come?" "No, for certain. I have other fish to fry here." 1905, George Bernard Shaw, chapter 15, in The Irrational Knot:
    • I have other fish to fry; so good-morrow, my ladies all, good-morrow. c. 1710, The Journal to Stella, Jonathan Swift, ch. 2, Letter 15:
    • Actually, Hoxha and his partisans had other fish to fry than the Nazis. 2012, Theodore Dalrymple, The Wilder Shores of Marx: Journeys in a Vanishing World:
    • Your uncle will not return yet; he has other fish to fry: he will be galloping backwards and forwards from Briarfield to Stilbro' all day, […] 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “To-Morrow”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 212:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
had other fish to fry Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
had other fish to fry Tense=Past lexicographic
has other fish to fry Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
having other fish to fry Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Relateds

another kettle of fish

Translations (8)

de andere Igel zu kämmen haben (to have more important things to do) · fr avoir d'autres chats à fouetter (to have more important things to do) · ca tenir altres coses a fer (to have more important things to do) · es tener otras cosas que hacer (to have more important things to do) · nl andere katten te geselen hebben (to have more important things to do) · it avere altre gatte da pelare (to have more important things to do) · gd eadar e fhèin (to have more important things to do) · pl mieć inne sprawy do załatwienia (to have more important things to do)