Dictionary

queer fish en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkwiːɹˌfɪʃ/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (UK, dated) An odd or eccentric person.
   • He’s known amongst us as the Arab. I’ve had my eye on him ever since he came to the place. A queer fish he is. I always have said that he’s up to some game or other. 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
   • To these people, native and European, he was a queer fish, but they were used to queer fish, and they took him for granted; the world was full of odd persons, who did odd things; and perhaps they knew that a man is not what he wants to be, but what he must be. 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 54”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
   • Harry is a queer fish indeed. He is suspicious of everybody and everything. 1974 April 21, Vincent Canby, “Movie Review: The Conversation”, in New York Times, retrieved 24 Feb 2014:

Forms

Synonyms

strange fish · weirdo · odd fish